Base ~ meaning the wood portion? I haven't made them really deep, the wood is from 6 -12 inches. The soil and compost on top is more shallow but I can build it up during year. I'm definitely thinking about more of them after this season of drought.
starting to cool off on the September Homestead
My, everybody sounds busy. You all have made me tired reading about your work.
I am weaning all the kids so I am milking the does twice a day. They are starting to give less milk. I hope they are not drying up already. I know they are not a dairy breed but I sure hope they milk longer than this. I need to google it. I have started putting milk in the freezer already.
I have curds and whey seperating on the back of the stove now. Did a double batch so I can try something new.
I did some lacto fermented veggies. I used green tomatoes, eggplant, trombocino squash, sweet peppers, onions, garlic and some lime basil. I used sea salt and whey. It turned out like relish because I grated all the veggies.
I used my bread maker for the first time! Turned out great. Need to bake some more tomorrow. I am doing 1/2 whole wheat 1/2 white. I also used the whey in it.
Nik, are seramas usually that expensive? A friend is going to give me a pair of them. They are not show quality. Their backs are not that short but they are teeny tiny little things. I will keep them for pets.
Sold 7 dozen eggs yesterday. That will buy the next sack of laying pellets.
Sold one of the bucklings. I banded him for the new owner. I have also sold the other buckling and a doeling. Need to get in touch with the guy who wants them to let him know they can go now. That will help pay for the 50 mile fence charger to juice the fence on the hill. Need to do some work on the fence because a big tree fell on it.
Almost got the spring garden cleaned so I can get the onions and garlic in. I want to reconfigure the beds.
Yesterday, when I got home from work, I thought "man I am tired, I must be getting to old for this mess". Then this morning I read the above posts and realizing what you folks have been doing. Now I am really tired and it is 7 am.
Hello everybody. I read every post to catch up. Yall been busy bees.
Cocoa= sorry bout your chickens. Reminds me of when we had a raccoon problem. They ate all my white doves. Just ripped them through the cages and left the remains all over the place.
darius= sorry bout your plumbing issues. If i were closer, I would help.
Cajun= you sound kinda extra busy too. Yum= homemade bread. I use to have a bread maker. It was very nice. I been wanting a good loaf of yeasty homemade bread here lately. I have my eyes on a cast iron loaf pan made by Lodge at a near by farming store.
I like sauerkraut every now and then. I am not a vinegar food fan except for pickle juice. I can drink pickle juice all day long but I can't cause it makes my blood pressure shoot sky high. Mom use to call me a pickleholic.
Gardening plans are slow around here. The Lee storm saturated the garden plot. I finally got around to tilling the garden plot yesterday but it was still slightly moist. I only tilled the actual grow bed area which is two 3x60 beds. I sprayed the rest with Round Up. Will till the beds three more times= 3 days then plant broc, cabbage, cauli. I had to use my little tiller cause the tractor needs to be repaired to use its tiller. I forgot what it is called but That Lever that engages the tiller keeps slipping out. Sigh. I could really do some damage if I could use my tractor tiller.
Will have ripe tomatoes in the greenhouse in about 4 to 5 weeks. The cool weather this week during tomato pollination is going to cause some catfacing. We went from heat index of 101 down to temps in the high 60s during the day when the Lee storm came through. Wow. So my fall crop plants were suffering in the 101 index and hoping with this cool snap they will burst into some healthy growth.
I had 27 Ameraucana chicks delivered last week. They are so cute. Sweet little babies. I had them in the house during all the storms. I just made them a temporary coop with a heat lamp and a shingled roof space to stay out of the future bad weather. I have an old deck portion that came off the burned home that had a lattice pergola roof over it= 8ftx12ft. that I had used as a temporary laundry room while we were building the house and I want to convert it into a chicken coop for the new chicks.
10 chickens have died with upper respiratory infections. It's not a disease but I have taken all the chickens out of the barn coop so I can clean it. I think they got fungal spores in their respiratory system when I raked the barn soil last month. I did not know I was suppose to clean it before I put them in there. Live and Learn. I did not take any of the chickens to the vet. That is more expensive than just buying new ones. Since I have watched the chickens and came up with my own conclusions as to why they have a respiratory infections, I will keep the new chicks as far away as I can just in case it might be something contagious.
The rabbit had 8 babies but= they were all attacked by ants before the momma could clean them up. We went out to check on her because we knew she was due to have babies. We got the ants off of them but there was too many bites for them to survive. They all died. I never thought ants would be a problem. It never crossed my mind. I had built her a good safe cage that snakes couldn't get in to but never thought about ants. For now on the area will be treated for ants. Live and Learn.
Besides all that, I been cleaning around the house outside now that the temps have cooled off. Cleaning out other raised beds and getting them ready for turnip greens and Sugar Snap peas.
A lot of weeds have grown up in the big greenhouse (20x96)and I need to clean it up before winter. Need it ready for spring plant production.
It's too hot to clean in there during summer.
Just came in the house for breakfast. Today I am hauling the last of the neighbors manure and spreading it in my field. Then plowing the new garden again. The plowed/fluffypart of the new garden is about 2/3 rotted manure. The Village of Belle Centre is going to bring me about 5-6 truckloads of leaves to mulch it with. I plan to lay cardboard down on the soil then layer the leaves and my own chicken manure on top.
yes, Show quality Seramas will sometimes sell for upwards of $1500. There are folks who will spend money on anything. These are all being handled daily so they are very docile, and the colours on them are all very striking. $100 each, easy.
My Mum and My Sister and BIL came up from Middletown yesterday and Debbie and I met them all at the Moose Club at Indian Lake. Yes, I'm a member. Anyway they have fish all you can eat a couple times a month. They all came out to Wolf's Rest Farm afterward to visit for a bit and see some of the stuff I have done in the last couple years. Everyone was impressed.
darius and poster what is hugelkulture ? o k o k i m the greenhorn on this stuff
i am adding more and more raised beds. I just really like them. i can control the weeds and soil more .
i do have a flat area . Gonna give the no till and lasagna layering on that area.
if i lay black plastic down to kill off weeds and weed seeds. Will i kill off the good soil bacteria and other goodies it has ?
i m wondering if its not hot enough to kill off the weed seeds. ?
i will google it , but honestly you get so much info . i just get to confused LOL ( its pretty easy to do that )
NikB sounds like a good time. All you can eat fish is always a good thing yum.
Cricket sorry to hear about the 10 birds that died. ? i had only two die this year but honestly can't figure out what was wrong ?
just came in the coop and .... ? dead.
Hi Cajun ! ~~~~~~ are you anywhere near Burea ? i got kin over there. My uncle is in hospice . I may take a trip over to KY. To say my goodbyes to him.
Cocoa i know that coons love the Pepsi and the Coca cola. I wonder if this new toddler snack pack toy thingy would work ?
it swivels and won't spill . i wonder if you put it in the trap would the coon be able to get it out ? can't recall the name of it ?
For the coon bait, we have been using table scraps, tied with shoestring to hang over the 'trip panel'. Last night Dh added a peppermint patty, because he said 'coons love sweets', but then we got into a heated discussion, because I said peppermint was a critter repellent. lol Nothing took the the bait last night and no tracks were around the trap. I wish that was because of the peppermint *wink. I think that had more to do with the dogs being on high alert last night...having pigs in their yard.
I have no idea what your talking about, Sue. But it sounds good.lol I'll look around on the soda isle and see if I can find it. Seriously, I wish the cola company would sell it as coon bait, seems just wrong to push it on toddlers!
Cricket, I have a good feeling about your chicks! I've gotten to where I won't bring adult birds on the property anymore, just always ends badly for us.
Speaking of chicks, the broilers are doing good. I've lost 1 out of 55. I ordered 50, and they sent 5 extras. Still in the brooder on the porch, till I can catch the coon. The brooder won't be able hold them much longer tho, they are growing fast!
I got the garden seeded this last week and noticed some germination today...So go good to see any form of plant life right now!
Here are the new piggy girls...I'm doomed...they are so cute and funny!
Oh and I forgot..Darius. We need to see you rocking the tyvek look ;0)
BTW, that's Kevin and Francis Bacon (both gilts). When we called about the pigs. The gentleman said that they were mixed breed racing pigs....I thought that meant he expected us to chase them down in the field. I nearly fell over laughing when I saw his rig. He wasn't kidding!
i can picture a raccoon sitting in the trap with a tuperware sippy cup full of Coke ROFLLLL. well it will eventualy kill him with diabetes. LOLLL ? and don't forget some Velveta cheese. Obesity will kill him then. LOL sorry i have been watching to many food documentarys ... i better stop before i get into trouble ... well i do love a good cold pop once in awhile.
pod, if you are making the hugelkultur beds 6-12" deep, what general diameter wood are you using? I saw a video where they were using fresh tree chunks as much as 18" in diameter and about the same length. Seems like that would take an enormous amount of time to decompose enough to retain moisture for the bed.
Sue, here's a couple of links on hugelkultur:
http://kerryg.hubpages.com/hub/Hugelkultur-Using-Woody-Waste-in-Composting
http://saponaria-wortsandall.blogspot.com/2008/07/hugelkultur-compared.html
The gilts are cute!! Just two? That ain't much bacon....
Here ya go Sue. A picture is worth a thousand words. http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/ It has promise for me. The few beds I did survived the drought far better than I would have dreamed.
I am sorry the ants beat you to the baby rabbits. Do you have the hutch on legs? If so, could you stand the legs in cans of oil to create a moat so the ants wouldn't cross it? I hate fireants and think that would be a God awful way to die. I fed feral cats by setting a pan of cat food on a shallow tray which I coated with Dr Bronners peppermint soap. The fireants wouldn't cross it. I never found them in the cat food while the girls at the nearby restaurant would put out scraps for the cats and the ants would cover that food up.
Cocoa ~ no experience with trapping a coon but we had a small one for a while. I was thinking sardines, tuna, cheap, smelly canned cat food would be the raccoon drawing card. Just a thought. Cute oinkers you got too. You are doomed! LOL
Y'all have gotten so much done that when everyone is done you are welcome to come start on mine... lol Just kidding. But what Dyson said I agree!!!
Ahhh... thanks for more links. I just posted one. I agree that depth is way more than feasible for me. Besides if it looks like a normal bed DH wouldn't object as much. In the first two beds the wood was two to four inches in diameter. For this last one, I used a lot of rotted wood that I located nearby. I suspect I will have to rework the beds in a few years and replenish the wood but that is o.k. too.
Have you read this one? http://allthingsplants.com/articles/view/dave/96/
Pod, that was an interesting post by Dave. There's so much one can do with appropriate equipment... and some woods nearby~
I'm thinking more along the lines of hugelkuktur beds laid out as terraces and swales along my slope... at least for the moment.
I will agree with the equipment and the idea of doing terraces and swales. We are on unlevel ground and although it is probably not as steep as yours, my thought was to use these as water catchment basins should it ever rain again.
I do have the woods and lots of downed timber here but this is what I used in my perennial onion bed for the hugelkultur base. These are not large pieces of rotting limbs.
This is the fine rotted wood that was added next with compost and soil on top. These beds I have built are not large... 8' x 2' I think one can do these on any scale desired.
Made 2 cheeses today, my tried and true green onion and a sweet orange cheese. They turned out great. Milked the does twice. Went to a household shower for friends. Cleaned my porch and moved the big weaning crate to the goat house. Cleaned my yard and up my driveway. Did all the regular work too except for feeding 5 of the horses. DH did those while I was at the shower. He also cooked supper for me while I was working in the yard.
Glad you enjoyed your company and you got to show them your place. It feels so good to get to show your accomplishments to friends and family. My family is all like that. If you go visit you have to see everything in the yard and barn before going into the house.
I'm trying to wrap my little pea brain around the huggie culture stuff too. A big rotten tree fell across my fence on the hill. Be nice if I could get some good use from it.
So sorry about the bunnies. That's a lot of future meat to lose.
Hate to hear about the chickens too. That is frustrating to say the least. I lost a hen a couple days ago but she was the crooked beak hen. I should have culled her as a chick but I did get some good egg production from her for a year.
Nice pigs. I have seen the pig races. When my son was little we saw them at the fair and he got a ribbon because he picked the winner before the race.
I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is a big day. Pastoe Appreciation day at church. My DH deserves a great day. He gives everything fir the church and the congregation. I think I will take my lactofermented vegetable relish.
Sounds like lots accomplished Cajun. Hoping you and your DH have a wonderful day tomorrow.
Darius ~ I suspect you read Saponarias blog on terraces and swales also?
Maybe, pod, although the name doesn't ring a bell. I've been reading lots of related stuff I don't bookmark or follow, and terraces and swales show up a lot. Hemenway's book Gaia's Garden covers it extensively, along with greywater use. Next time I have any extra money, I'm buying that book, as I keep wanting to mark certain passages in the library copy I'm currently reading. I'm thinking it may be the best book any gardener can own!
I had an interesting conversation about forest food farming yesterday at the farmer's market. One of the small vendors is a biology prof., and he sat in on a long talk on the topic at a conference in Asheville recently. The speaker had statistics about calories produced by forest farming vs. conventional farming, something incredible like 3:1. The upshot is basically that the forest floor is like a hugelkultur bed (although my friend didn't use that word) and we just need to learn how to work with Nature's ways and not try to make her work with our ideas of raising foods.
Richard promised to email some information to me about this guy and his research.
I wanted add to Dyson comment as well...whenever I feel overwhelmed with everything going on. I come to this forum, and think to myself. At least I didn't have to crawl under a house, or build one, today! It helps, thank you all, you inspire me :0)
No racoon today, the trap door was closed and the bait gone. No raccoon tracks around the cage. I think a rat is working with the coon! lol I was thinking about the gyro ball and what Pod said about the fish. I'm to try a tea-ball. It's one of those aluminum screw cap types with holes for the tea to steep through. I'm going to fill that with tuna and wire it to the cage and hope a rat can't chew through it.
We always just poked small holes in the tuna fish can instead of opening it - works well.
Darius ~ I am interested in the forest farming also. Should you do a blog, please let me know.
I have every intention of opening up the logging trails through our woods and hope to plant plots for me and the critters.
This is the link to her terraces and swales. http://saponaria-wortsandall.blogspot.com/ Scroll down a bit on this link.
I have been reading about EMs, that inspiration was compliments of Cocoa and found so much interesting info.
And I need to see if I can relocate what I had read about finding natural EMs rather than growing them.
I have seen what they were talking about and never knew what it was.
Looking forward to cooler weather so I can do more exploring in these woods.
And you keep talking about that book but I need another book on plants and gardening like I need another hole in my head! I am resisting temptation. (sort of)
I have baby ducks!! I have been putting all the duck (welsh harlequin) eggs into my incubator for the last couple weeks. I thought I had a few more days to go, But I was sitting here at the table rading and heard a peeping behind me. Lo an behold; I had 2 out of the shell and 2 more well pipped. This has been a fantastic weekend!!!
Congratulations!
Great!!!
awwww.little duckies. congrats Nik.
cocoa= cute little piggies.
I like reading everyones adventures and ideas. It helps me come up with ideas. And it reminds me of the ones I set aside. My mom says I need to rest by brain and just sit and think of nothing.......I haven't figured out how to do that yet.
gardening= about 10 years ago, someone cleared this land and pushed all the debris into two big long strips (400ftx25ft) out back. It is full of rotted wood and leaves but now grown up with brush. I have plans to go out there and shovel it up and put it in my garden but it's just a plan at the moment. I am having a hard time finding time to do everything. Wish I could do it while I'm sleeping.
I am buying two more pygmy goats. A pg nanny and a billy.
oh yeah. I know this has nothing to do with homesteading, farming, or what ever else goes under homesteading, but==I am taking in my sisters son. He is very unhappy at home, depressed actually. He doesn't like his 4 brothers and sisters. He is a tidy fella but his other family members are not and it gets on his nerves along with their bad habits. His mom has tried everything to make him happy. The only time he is happy is when he is staying with us which is a lot.....weekends and most of the summer. I cannot imagine how she feels except her heart must be torn to shreds. He just turned 13. Him and my son Chad are best friends but sometimes act like brothers. We are going to let him live with us for a few months and see how it goes. It is a big scary responsibility. Not like taking in a goat or a rabbit. You wouldn't think I would be nervous or worried considering he has spent 6 to 8 wks in our home during the summer every summer for several years. I guess it is the thought that after two months it may turn permanent.
I think our 'homesteading families' include all critters like Nik's baby ducklings... and human ones too. Good luck with the additional "son" Cricket!
Nik, we NEED pictures!!
Dyson, so brilliant and so simple! I told dh, he gave me that look of amazement, as if, why did we think of that.lol
Pod, do you need the links for harvesting wild EM? I have multiple links, but would still need to dig through them to find the basic "harvesting". LMK, happy to look. It's a big circle of inspiration, Darius led me down the EM path with her articles on biochar. Fascinating stuff!
Nik, happy duckling day!
Cricket, I think it's wonderful he has an opportunity to thrive at your home. I can't say I know exactly how you feel, but the situation resonates with me. We took full custody of my daughter (actually step-daughter) at 8 years of age. I felt more responsibility for her, then bringing home my own newborns.
There has been much talk around here of homeschooling our sons. The idea terrifies me, that somehow, I will ruin them... or not smart enough to teach them.
Cocoa ~ look into some of the virtual schools online. We have a friend whose sons' two daughters are doing that this year. They travel alot and move often and this way they can stay abreast of the education as well as work at their own pace. He bought each their own laptop so no excuses. There are even online group classes that the girls participate in.
Homeschooling is good (IMO) but as the child progresses, it is difficult for the adult teacher. Those here that homeschool work as a group. One adult may excel in one field while another is good at something else. Also more of a support group. Definitely a large responsibility.
On the EMs, I've saved sooo many links. If I could remember which day I read that, I'd try for history. I do need to find it though and will post. You had shared the other links on the drought gardening thread. Thank you.
Biochar was an inspiration here when I read it first on DG too. Think the first article I read was Daves'. I haven't made it as such but sift thru the firewood ash and cull the charred pieces. Then crush them and add to the beds.
Cricket ~ you go girl! Your sister should be more than delighted that her son will be happy and well adjusted and still be her son. You are not taking that away from her. Without you, who knows how he would have developed. You will be blessed for your effort!
I do love the Dyson tuna can and will try to file that in the fading memory bank. lol
Cricket good luck on the young man. I hope he can become a happier young fellow. That is a hard age . is he the youngest or the oldest ? or somewhere in the middle. I don't know how them Duggers family does it ! ? yikes. what are they up to 20 kids ?
boys are so fragile at that age. I wish you and him the best.
not much going on here
got apples in the dehydrator.
still got a 1/2 bushel to go.
deciding on apple sauce or more dried apples ?
making lots of soup also but just don't have enough energy to make my own stocks. :( that would take a miracle LOL
so i have to use the store stuff. more sodium then what i want
hey great news on the ducks, yes pics is a must !
Pod, how do want to use the Ems? Bringing up decaying wood and soil from your wooded area may be all you need to inoculate new beds.
I have been collecting info and notes on homeschooling schools, curriculum, groups. Much like my EM notes, I'm beginning to bog down with all the information.lol We haven't informed the boys that we are considering homeschool. So, I don't feel the need to rush into a decision.
Sue, applesauce, please :0) The mornings have been so wonderful and cool here. I'm craving all the fall goodness. I might need a pumpkin pie, a few months early.
I saw a quick bit on the Tv about the Duggars, I had never heard of them. Of course, all I could keep thinking was, "why don't they own a dairy cow". lol
Sue, last year I made some applesauce from crab apples... it was slightly tart (by design) and a lovely pink! Mostly I like apple butter better than apple sauce.
My mother used to pickle crab apples. They were really tasty in a sweet cinnamon pickle juice rather like those sliced apple rings. Wish we could grow apples. I have a possible line on a native crabapple so maybe...
Cocoa ~ the EMs to be used in the garden beds and I suspect from what I've read you are right. Adding the wood will suffice. How else could you use them?
Today I made the initial step for a new garden bed higher up from the creek! I bought some alfalfa bales to do sheet composting. Yeah, I know straw would work, but all the straw I've used here in 5 years has given me horrendous grass weeds later on... plus, the alfalfa was the same price as straw from a big box store, and will add nitrogen!
My sis can get me some used cardboard from work, but only on the weekends. That's okay because I have a BUNCH of work to do first, leftovers from last week... like build a window frame, hook up the wiring for the freezers in the new storage space, and work under the house to run the greywater line from the washing machine.
I started, but only barely, the layout for a winter hoop house today. (That means I dragged the PVC pipes from the barn to the garden, and collected some rebar pieces to anchor them.) However, I did manage to do some more plantings that will be covered by the hoophouse. I started some cole crops there several weeks ago, but lost some to the heavy rains from TS Lee. Fortunately I hadn't planted all the starts I had, so those went in today.
Some of the shallots I bought to plant in October had sprouted in the root cellar, so those went in the ground today too. Depsi (here on DG) sent me some Babington Perennial Leek "seeds" which I also planted today.
In the midst of all this busyness today, I also took my truck to the shop and got the leaky clutch master cylinder replaced!
Gaaa. My sister decided she couldn't handle her son living with us all the time and never be there with her. He did tell her that he just wanted to run away and kill himself. WE are trying something else before we resort to him moving in with us. She is going to set up a bedroom that he and his sister (not a good idea in my opionion) will share with a lock and key so no other children will bother his stuff or his space and will have more privacy. HM. ok. The other thing is he will come to our home every Friday after school and go home on Sunday evening. I don't know how this will work out but ...it gives him something to look forward to every week. He doesn't like the plan of staying home but I guess his mother is holding on to the last thread. He is the second to the oldest. Has an older(14) brother and the youngest(6) is a brother . Two sisters. One is extremely talkative and the other is quiet. Three children are ADHD or something similar or the opposite and actually I call the whole family Mal=Function Junction. Anyway...... I thought if I didn't let him come over for a while that he might stay home and gradually appreciate home more. I thought because he liked our home better that it made him hate his home. I would think of reasons as to why he couldn't spend the weekend during the past month. I guess that was a bad idea cause he got worse. Back to weekend visits and see how that goes. He was with us the entire summer while we were building our house.....even when we lived in the house with no walls and he still didn't want to go home to his family. He called me his other mother.. Just a sad situation.
Homeschooling. I did not homeschool but one of my other sisters did and still does and her daughters are going through their last year and her son finished a couple years ago. If you don't know something, you will when you read it. She had to learn it before she could teach it. The first school years are hard and the last two years are hard. All the middle is easy cause they know how to read. The last few years is much better if you have a local Vocational School or College that allows homeschool children to attend classes. Going to church and getting involved helps with socializing. My sister paid for homeschool attorneys also.
I only planted about 100 cole crop plants yesterday and today between all the ins and outs and and and. They got planted in my concrete block raised beds. Trying some of the broccoli in the cinder block holes. Curious to see how that works out. Another 340 to go==mostly in the regular garden plot.
I have garlic to plant too. And some onions. STill have to go buy turnip green seeds. I dread sowing turnip green seeds one by one. Very time consuming. It will take me all day and i will sit on my rump and scoot across the ground. Will be sowing a 3x50ft bed. 16 per square foot.
I still have 6 healthy roosters. They are about 21 weeks old and they are sooooooo heavy. Big Boys! wow. They are much much heavier than the adult Ameraucana Rooster that i had bought 6 weeks ago. A promise to myself that I will never break ----will never buy chickens from someone else.......will always order new chicks or raise my own. Plus, I like how friendly they are when you raise them from chicks.
Cricket, that's a really tough situation... My half-sister who shares this house has a daughter almost 24 who has been living here with us about 3-4 years. She's gone off with a boyfriend to Elmira, NY for a couple of months. Yesterday she called my sis to ask how my sis feels about her really moving out, as opposed to "visiting" away from home. My sis has conflicts about it since that's her only child, but I think the Kid needs to leave home. How will she ever learn to be an adult when her mother indulges every whim and enforces NO discipline?
Not the same as your situation, except the tugs at a mother's emotions.