jaye
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by jaye on May 28, 2012 11:07:34 GMT -4
Nice feeder. I am trying to convince hubby to build one similar for our coop. It would be a great advantage this winter when the snow flies. I have 5, 6 yr old sex link hens, and one Road Island Red rooster. I have one hen that is broody. She started to sit last year and about 2 weeks into it her nest got robbed. The whole flock quit laying at that point. So far this spring though they are laying again and she is sitting again. We are 5 days into it and I am hoping for the best this year. I scaled back the garden this year to just potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers for pickling, peppers, and a strawberry patch. I have yet to put some onions and squash in. For the last two years we have have a late frost in June and it worries me to get to far ahead of myself and have to start over. I have already lost one batch of tomato plants from a hard frost early this month. The potatoes had not come up yet so they were OK. That catches you on May at this homestead.
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Post by nhlivefreeordie on May 28, 2012 13:54:09 GMT -4
I am so far behind this year, I too waited until much later to get started due to severe freezes the last two years on Mothers Day, then I put my back out and lost three weeks. Now I am playing catch-up. Potatoes, Beans, Garlic, Zuchinni, Tomatoes, and Cucumbers are all growing well, the problem is that I haven't mulched yet, so yesterday I started weeding in 90 degree + heat with super high humidity, headed out to do some more today. I then should start mulching, but starting Wednesday it is paper delivery for three days, sooooo....I will probably have to weed again and mulch next weekend as we leave for NH on Tuesday. I wish there were 3 of me at certain times of the year.
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Post by leatherneckpa on May 28, 2012 16:59:34 GMT -4
jaye, welcome! It's so nice to see a new participant ... and thank you. But I should warn you, that bloody feeder will hold 200 lbs of feed AND 100 lbs of oyster shell. Even I had no idea how big it really was, until I poured food in it for the first time. Of course, as you said, that could come in handy. I was just thinking, if I completely filled it and skipped the oyster shell I could probably go an entire month during winter w/o refilling! Cool!
Early this spring I had a Buff Orpington who appeared to be going broody, and like a dunce I kept relieving her of eggs. My bad! When I finally realized it was the same bird all the time it was too late. I had taken her will to sit. But, last week, one of my Dominiques started sitting a nest. On the second day that she was there I got smart this time. She let me count the eggs under her and there were only three. And since she was still refusing to leave the nest I decided to take a chance and I stuffed another half dozen eggs under her. She's been on the nest ever since. Of course, she decided to do this the day AFTER I ordered 2 dozen new chicks from Meyer Hatchery. I already cancelled one order from them earlier this spring and am hesitant to do so again. Especially since the Dominique might just change her mind. So now, on June 27 or so, I'll have both a mail batch and hopefully a fresh nest full also. That would be SO COOL! A home bred batch would be my next step toward small flock management. Of course this batch will just be mostly "mutts", but if it succeeds I might just try to build a breeding pen and flock.
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Post by leatherneckpa on May 28, 2012 17:15:09 GMT -4
My neighbor likes to joke whenever we're out mowing or performing some other drudgery .... "Ain't it great to be a homeowner!?" Most days I laugh along with him. This weekend it's been too hot. But despite that I am really happy with what we've accomplished.
We have planted nearly all of the vegetable garden AND built a new bed in one quarter of the front yard. While Cindy was doing most of the planting I did all the grunt work of moving the dirt. Then I designed and built a soaker hose irrigation system for the vegetable garden. After watching a bunch of youtube videos I knew that one thing I wanted to do was only have soakers inside the beds and not the lines between the beds. I pieced together a bunch of segments and accomplished exactly what I wanted. There are a total of five lines now. And each line can be removed from the others for winter storage. I'll post pics and a sketch later.
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jaye
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by jaye on May 28, 2012 18:47:19 GMT -4
I swear back problems are the bain of a gardeners assistance, but this year it is my hands. Not sure whether it is arthritis or bursitis, but my poor hands are miserable.
I have been fighting poor prairie soil for 5 years I could make flower pots with what I got out there to grow in. every year, mulch, manure, more mulch and every year I grow a great batch or weeds that I can usually stay ahead of but by July the hay has taken over and I fight to harvest what I can. One side of the garden is a year ahead and finally this year I found a few worms in it. YAY!!!
So this year I got an idea..............dangerous...I know.
The garden is about 35' by 40' the entire perimeter got a layer of cardboard then a layer of straw. I planted the peppers and tomatoes, cut a hole in the side of a cardboard box and put it around each plant and mulched over it with straw. I used a thin (unbleached packing paper they use to fill shipping boxes) layer of paper on either side the strawberry plants because this year I want them to run more than I want the fruit and the runners will be able to break through 1 layer of paper. The other side of the garden got cardboard and straw....yes the whole thing. I will cut through the cardboard to dig a hole for the squash and let them run all over the straw, but I simply am not fighting hay again this year. Anything that germinates from the straw can be pulled before it roots deeper than the cardboard. The potato patch got left as it because it had several bags of leaves dumped on it last year. When I have to hill them though, after I get past the soil that was from the leaves last fall, I will finish hilling with straw.
I will beg, barrow and steal leaves this fall to mulch over it and if the cardboard is not rotten enough by then to till in, I will go another year of mulch and just digging holes where I want to plant. I have never had such a battle amending soil before.
I tried the soaker hoses and I really liked them. I may yet lay them on top of the straw but right now I want more break down on the straw so I am over head watering probably until the squash is up and running well. I may get industrious on the potato, tomato, pepper, strawberry side of things next weekend, but hubby is wanting to go camping and I told him if he wanted me to go it would have to wait until the garden was in. So maybe I will just go camping in stead.
I left room between the peppers and strawberries for a couple of row of onions, it would be nice to have them in before I escape for a weekend.
I thought I had a broody hen until I went out this morning a discovered two sitting. I think #2 is not so serious so when I check in the morning before I head out to work I will see if she is really serious or if #1 is stealing her eggs. I really wouldn't mind a fresh bunch of hens, but If I end up with too many they will have to end up in the pot. I am not going to try to overwinter more than a half dozen chickens. Too much feed too little production. I think at this point I would rather have "the mutts" . Out of the 10 original hens (sex links- road island red x barred rock) in 6 years I have only lost one to some unknown health reason. The rest were from predators. They make it through the winter just fine with nothing more than an extra 6 inches of hay in the coop. Good stock. I really can't complain about "the girls".
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Post by azlonerider on May 28, 2012 19:34:02 GMT -4
The garden is growing well, tomatos are flowering, the corn is thigh high, we've harvested the first 2 zucchini and are going to wait a day or two to harvest more. We are having issues with our watering system and we'll have to resolve that so we can get enough water to the peppers and cucumbers.
Jake and I are putting in for the deer tag lottery for the state, so I'm researching the best area to hunt near us. I'm also going to get a mountain lion tag, because the area I think we're putting in for is loaded with the big cats, and I love mountain lion meat.
Well off to turn a compost pile.
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Post by leatherneckpa on May 29, 2012 16:46:34 GMT -4
jaye, the system you are starting to use sounds a lot like Patricia Lanza's "lasagna gardening". (Book of same title is available on Amazon if not in your local library.) As a matter of fact, that's exactly the way I am turning my tiny little front yard into a a "cottage garden" mixture of flowers and veggies. Good luck with it. I will be interested to hear of your results.
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Post by Martin on May 30, 2012 0:38:46 GMT -4
I've been planting a few tomatoes in grow bags and have gotten exactly one seedling planted per day for the past few days....that's pathetic!!!!! LOL It's been so hot and I cant breathe....I'm thankful I'm not a smoker...I'd probably be on my death bed!!! ~Martin
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Post by Martin on May 30, 2012 0:42:44 GMT -4
.....I love mountain lion meat. That's one that I've never had! Church used to have a wild game dinner every year, so i got to try stuff that I'd never be able to otherwise...it was pretty cool! ~Martin
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Post by leatherneckpa on May 30, 2012 21:12:35 GMT -4
The side yard and what's left of the front yard do not add up to 20 minutes of mowing. Which suits me just fine. So I got that out of the way this morning. Then I trimmed the mast support on the sailboat and moved the boat and trailer down behind the neighbor's barn, with his permission of course. I had to get it out of the way so I can have the backhoe come in and demo the defunct in-ground swimming pool.
I moved a 3'x3'x6" thick concrete slab back to the tree line as a base for our burn barrel. Then I moved the burn barrel.
Next I took down about 80' of chain link fence and threw it in the hole, along with all of the top pipes it was tied to. Tomorrow the plan is to use the old Dodge Ram to pull all of the posts out of the ground and maybe start breaking concrete. I have this theory that if I lever a slab up and slip a 6" rock under it I will be able to break chunks of it off with a sledge hammer. Lot of hard work but I'm finding that I enjoy the exercise.
Plus all the physical labor of the last month has gotten me back on track at Weight Watchers and I am back down below where I was at Thanksgiving. I weighed in tonight just 2/10ths shy of hitting my 25 lb goal, 362.8 lbs. I'm really shooting for 350 by 4th of July. Sweating helps. In my dreams I return to the schools next year at 300 lbs and shock the kids.
I have started walking already and tomorrow I will start bicycling as training for something I have always wanted to do. Ever since I watched the very first Kona Hawaii Iron Man triathlon back in the 70's I have always thought it would be quite an achievement. Over the years I have come to doubt that I could EVER actually run a marathon (I just plain hate running!), but a few years back they formally adopted triathlon as an Olympic sport. The official Olympic distances are 1/4 Iron Man distance are .9 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run/walk. I'm not shooting for that this year, but I am shooting for a Sprint Tri of about half that distance before the end of the season, probably in October of this year. My eventual goal is an Olympic distance Tri next August to celebrate my 55th birthday. Sounds crazy coming from a fat man, I know, but now that I've put it out there, there's no backing down.
I used to say that I didn't understand the bicycle racers I would referee. They KNEW they weren't going to finish in the money, and yet they would pony up the $35 to $50 registration fee and ride the race anyway. Camaraderie only goes just so far, even for a Marine. But then I worked a couple of triathlons and I began to understand. It didn't matter if you were first across the line, first in your age group, or dead last. Everyone who actually finished was a winner. What a cool concept. People would be angry because they didn't set a new PR, but they were still happy because they had finished. And that's going to be my goal, just finish.
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jaye
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by jaye on May 30, 2012 22:22:12 GMT -4
Wow congratulations on the weight loss. I need to do the same thing. This has been a lifetime battle for me. I am taking a different approach this time. I am not getting any younger and like many things in my life, I feel like maybe I only got one more chance to do it right. So I have spent the last two years studying health and nutrition. Replacing everything in my house with if not organic at least natural and I know where most of it is grown, how it is processed if at all, and how it effects my body. I have some advantages as I work somewhere that sells organic food, and I get an employee discount. (about the only perk) So slowly but surely I have taken advantage of the availability and the knowledge that is around me.
It has been a long road, but I am ready to start working it. I have lost 20 pounds but was not really serious yet. Just experimenting with what worked best for me. There are so many theories out there. I will be journal my journey. I will link it up here.
I lost a pepper plant last night to a chilly night...drat it anyway..
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Post by leatherneckpa on May 31, 2012 7:32:10 GMT -4
jaye, I can't say enough good things about our WW's meeting group. The support and motivation is great. It sounds like you have a nice plan worked out, specific to you needs, which is important. Good luck with it. The struggle you and I fight each day is something skinny people will never understand or relate to.
I think the scariest I've ever been in school was early this year when I intervened with a trio who were picking on an overweight kid. I was afraid I may have overdone it because I went full-out prison LT ballistic on those kids and REALLY read them the riot act about bullying someone. And I was definitely inside their personal space. But several students and a couple of teachers stopped me later to tell me they were impressed. As one student put it, "Holy crap, LT!! I don't EVER want to make you that mad at me! You're scary." Would you believe one of the little twerps got his mother to call the school? It's okay for him to bully someone, but not for a teacher to reprimand him? She didn't get far though.
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