Cricket I just read about your rabbits and had to tell you this. When at the local high end grocery store yesterday I noticed they had rabbit in the meat case. I love rabbit. My Grandfather raised them to sell so I grew up on it. I almost choked when I saw what they wanted for a pretty small rabbit. $30.00 and up!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. Had to call my Mom because she wouldn't have believed it either. They also had fresh pheasant starting a 35.00 a bird. Didn't think to check the per pound cost on this stuff because I was really afraid to touch it. :)) Please post pics of the bunnies when they arrive. I love bunnies.
Darius I have been reading along on the blogs this week and getting really ticked off. While the White House is spending lots of money to be sure that kids eat healthy, maybe they ought to be regulating some of these other insanities. Not sure how healthy the food is ending up these days. Shopping takes forever reading labels. Then sometimes I start to wonder who oversees the label information to make sure that's correct. It's a vicious circle for sure.
a warm beginning to the February Homestead
Ahhh, but the White House speaks with forked tongue...
My god, if rabbits are $30, what are they asking for a duck??
my kids school lunch is a velveeta nightmare ! oh i just hate it. Good thing my kids don't like that kind of food. LOL but we do eat Oreo's
we got some snow today
cold temps and may be single digits
got the chickens extra straw and an extra blanket for the coop.
got some tree's in the mail today , very pleased with them. dogwoods and some red twig dogwoods.
just to many plants to get and not enough money LOL
Cricket the house will be quieter ? and Happy birthday to you
cocoa funny how many people don't eat broccoli but cows will. i like cauliflower , broccli and i don't get along.
darius i m ready for spring also
i got me the ghost pepper seeds and am hankering to get it planted !
wow. $30 rabbit. hmmmmmm does that mean I have a "get rich quick scheme" in my backyard?
rvnsbrk, My last batch of bunnies were born end of Nov.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1232220/
I will surely take pics of the new babes when they arrive.
What kind of rabbits do you raise? I'm trying to decide which are the most economical to raise.
Chilly and windy day here, going down to a single-digit temp tonight. It's snowing lightly right now, but we may get up to 4" by tomorrow morning. Glad I don't have livestock to tend.
Wind chill is 20 degrees this morning...brr...I imagine it's worse to the north. Hope ya'll stay warm and toasty.
The last time I bought rabbit was over ten years ago, it was expensive then.
I saw some pseudo news clip about an ex coca cola executive that has taken over a carrot co-op. He used the advertising model for the cola to sell baby carrots. They ran commercials in two cities, sells were so high that they don't have enough carrots to run the commercials nation wide. Gave me a sense of hope that veggies could again find their way into American homes. At the end of the clip they talked to the carrot company R&D lab, and how they are experimenting with flavors (like chips) to coat the raw carrots for flavor. Just pitiful. My bubble burst.
I am raising the New Zealand white rabbits. (meat) And I have not learned why they are called New Zealand yet. They are not from there. They originated from Mexico.
Carrots= I think they should leave it up to the cook on flavoring carrots. Sounds like somebody is bored or doesn't know how to put their time to better use.
cocoa, sorry I don't take soil temps. I am not that organized. :) When I was battening down the hatches yesterday I peeked into the hoop house and nothing has sprouted yet so it must not be warm enough in there. I do have a few lettuce sprouts in an oncovered bed. I put a feed sack over them in hopes of keeping the snow off.
It is 18 on my porch at midday. Wind chill was below 0 last night. Wind is blowing today and it's snowing. Canceled tonights planned dinner and movie at church.
A friend is going to feed at the big barn across the mountain for me. Makes is a lot easier day for me. Good thing. I am aching all over and didn't sleep well last night because of it. I may take a quick nap.
I used to raise rabbits. I had regular customers I butchered for and delivered to. $5 a rabbit. We sold bunnies at Easter and made enough to pay feed bills for the whole year. We raised Californias and Flemish Giant crosses. I'd like to get rabbits again.
Darius, is the corn in question just the fresh corn on the cob or is it in other products?
It's fresh corn, but you can be sure it will be used in lots of other products... since GMO labeling is not required in the US, you'll never know, until maybe years later when you become ill.
Wish I had more space to grow corn on.
The only sure way to know you aren't getting GM corn is to buy fresh organic corn. The organic rules forbid GMO seeds.
I sowed Swiss Chard the other day for me and my sister Martha. She is my gardening friend. I have never grown or eaten chard before so I plunged into it head first not knowing what I was doing. Sister didn't know I was sowing her some seeds cause it was suppose to be a surprise gift.
I found out today that Chard is related to beets and the seeds germinate into multiple plants. I got carried away sowing seeds but now it seems I went beyound that since each seed is multiple plants. I sowed her 200 seeds and me 200 seeds. (200 cell flat) Also thought some may not germinate.
It looks like they are all germinating. I need 50 square feet of gardening space to transplant them. Now I am sitting here wondering where in the world am I going to plant them. Sister said grow them anywhere and if there is too much for me to eat , I can feed the extra to my chickens.
I sowed 3 of the Northern Giant Cabbage. 2 have germinated.
I ordered some strawberry seeds. Then I found out how long it takes to germinate them. Wish I had not ordered them.
Cajun... I thought about selling these baby rabbits in April for Easter too so I could have the money to feed them the rest of the year. etc..
I like rabbit meat but right now I am more interested in the rabbit manure to enrich my garden soil.
The big thing that would prompt me to raise rabbits is the manure!
I'm interested in raising rabbits for the meat and the manure. Also thinking that the he pelts might be a side bonus. I know some ppl who will use the pelts inmaking dream catchers. But mainly for fertilizer and meat purposes :D
Rabbit pelts make great liners for handmade gloves and boots, too. The fur feels great against your hands.
http://mooseboots.blogspot.com/2012/01/rabbit-mittens-not-moose-boots.html
Oh my Gosh them look so nice and warm tooooooo.... ohhhh aahhh. neat blog too.
well not much at my end
hens are laying at great speed. i get 10 eggs a day . i m out of cartons. I donate them but honestly i went in with a box with clean straw and they wouldn't take them ? .. it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. i even brought extra boxes to divide them up to give to people . sooo what is the problem ?
they didnt' seem to have an answer to that .....
tractor supply cartons are to small for my eggs. my hens are laying huge jumbo + . i had jumbo size cartons and they still wouldn't close !
Cajun do your hens lay that big an egg ? they are Comets chikens.
very cold day today
got some things done in the gh. need to get my potting mix tomorrow. so into the big city i go LOL
got 200 tree seeds to get stratifyied.
got lots of plants orders coming in the next few weeks. so will be busy doing that
anyone want to come help me divide astilbe and hosta's LOL uhg.
Cricket LOL on the chard. i have a few recipes for it . let me look and see if i can type them up . i think they're italian style meals
You can get cartons from Falcon Packaging. 800-833-2832 in Covington, Ohio.
They cost me 29¢ each.
http://www.falconpac.com/
We are getting about 60% Jumbos.
We get $1 a dozen from our local food shelf for ones we don't sell other places.
Taynors ~ I'm guessing you use recycled egg cartons?
Seems like they should solicit recycled egg cartons seeing as you are generous enough to donate the eggs.
Some people! LOL
I save all my egg cartons (that is when there aren't yard eggs available) and give them to a customer of ours that I buy yard eggs from.
Seemed like the thang to do...
Please do post some chard recipes. I like it!
I get egg cartons on freecycle. You'd be suprized how many folks just stack them up in a corner someplace. Then when someone asks they just give them up. I gave an old shop-vac away on freecycle and the lady who came to get it saw my birds and asked if I needed egg cartons. I told her I never had enough. She went home to St.Mary's (about 40 miles) and came back with almost 600 cartons. I NEVER buy egg cartons.
I just asked my sister yesterday where I could get egg cartons. I haven't checked it out yet. http://www.eggcartons.com
And one of the chicks I been raising since Aug has laid her first egg. One egg out of 25 hens. It was an itty bitty green egg.(easter egger)
hey Bernie, How many egg cartons do you have to order to get them at .29 each? I went to the website but it didn't give pricing.
I went to the link that my sister gave me. Ouch. That's expensive. Can't make a profit with their prices.
I think it's 200 for Jumbos & 250 for others. These are legal styrofoam cartons. We are registered with the state so we can sell to cafes & stores, so cartons & labels must meet their requirements.
For me the shipping is more than the cartons, but totals 29¢. Might be less for you.
250 don't last long when you get 20 dozen a day!
I did some wraps (like stuffed cabbage) but used chard leaves. Tasty.
lol coco
Anything you do with spinach you can do with chard. ANd chard will stay green till it's been frosted 3-4 times. It takes a really hard frost to do it in. Chickens and goats love it, too. I plant about 60 feet of it every year. It's not a relative to beets, it IS a beet. A rootless type, but they will cross pollinate and the seed will usually be chard or a very small rooted beet. My favourite cultivar is foodhook Giant, but silverbeet and therainbow stemmed stuff is good,too.
Okay, my Babington Leeks were planted yesterday, maybe 150 altogether.. Today was Florence Fennel because the signs changed. I had to go buy a couple shovels full of sand (no charge, just gas there and back); mine was frozen solid with accumulated rain water. NOT a single bag of vermiculite to thin out my potting soil to be had within 50 miles, so sand has to suffice. I haven't had good luck with the organic seed starting (a soil-less mix) so I merely punt. Best I can do.
Last week I planted broad-leaf culinary sage, and just 5-6 seeds of white (ceremonial) sage. 2 of the white sage have popped up, no signs on the culinary sage yet... but lots of time to replant if they fail. My garden sage is usually perennial but I guess I cut it back too severely last year. It was getting pretty woody anyway.
My one GC hen does lay a very big egg.
It's cold and wet today with a wintry mix falling. Hate the thought of having to go out and feed. Usually does not bother me too much but I was up sick last night. Horrible stomach cramps and keeping the bathroom company. DH's BP was very high and he had to take extra meds to get it down. Seems to be fine now.
I have a reduced sugar cake in the oven for him for Valentine's Day.
Thinking I may seed a tray of different seeds today if I perk up a bit.
Anyone ever used chard in the dehydrator? I make a lot of kale chips in there, but sometimes the kale is gone or doesn't look good, but there is always swiss chard. Just thinking outside the box. :0)
Thats the chard i am growing.......FordHook Giant (white)
and a Ruby Chard
the seedlings are doing great.
How well do they transplant?
Not good.
I just plant chard in the garden at the same time other folks are planting beets (I don't do beets). No transplanting needed.
Here's another microwave cake
Mix one Angelfood cake mix, with one cther cake mix(any kind, the angelfood is important though) mix the dry cake mixes thoroughly. Then use 3 parts mix 2 parts water whip up a nice batter and nuke on high for (about) 1 minute. It's called a 321 cake. For Debbie and I, I use 1 1/2 cups mix and one cup H2O. i have to nuke it at about 1 minute 15 seconds. It works great. The leftover mix is dry and stores fine in a ziplock bag.
Pffftttt... I'm bummed! I got everything ready to do some cuttings, and went over to the place I pick great plump elderberries... and it's been fenced off with barbed wire. It's just a hillside along the road, and timbered last year. Too steep to build, or even to run cattle.
That is a bummer Darius. I have discovered elderflower infused cocktails and life will never be the same again. :)
Ahh, all is not lost. My neighbor Buster got me a few pieces to cut for rooting.... he just wanted to clean out a piece of creek bank where he likes to fish!
How to you actually use elderflowers to infuse a cocktail? They aren't available fresh for very long... so you use dried flowers? Or an essence? Remember the elderflower 'champagne' I brought to our last party? Loads of fresh flowers used.
hey folks
not much going on here.
got my hosta orders in .some were disapointing and some were a great surprise.
took apart some jap painted ferns. enjoyed working in the GH . warm in there considering no heat yet.
but some sun today warmed it up. felt good.
had snow but soon melted
rain on the way.
hens are laying but got diareah so the eggs are yukky .
with fuel prices going up i m more encouraged to do a bigger garden and do some meat chickens to raise.
Kids can do the 4 h meat poultry thing.
I am at the hospital right now. DH got admitted tonight. Bone infection is not gone. Back on IV meds.
Thanks for the recipe, Nik.