Missing seeds

Got the seeds yesterday. Thank you bunches. Guess the watermelon seeds must have fallen out of the pack. Oh well, will try them next year. I’ll get the tomatoes started tomorrow. Tried your meatball with tomato sauce recipe. Delicious! I got six quarts and a pint (127 meatballs). Did discover not to tip a jar..it explodes! They all sealed and are very good.
 
Franci Osborne
Ignacio, Colorado

My mistake most likely on the missing watermelon seeds. I’ll pack some up today as it’s still early enough to get them in. (If anyone else is missing anything, PLEASE let me know as I do all the packing. I told you it was a very small seed “business”!)

I’m glad you liked the meatballs with tomato sauce, as we love it. Wow, I’ve never had a jar explode. Ever! I’m glad you weren’t hurt! — Jackie

Poultry

What all different kinds of poultry do you have? I see chickens and turkeys, but how about ducks, guineas, or geese?

Donnie
Lowman, New York

We have chickens (meat birds and layers, including banties and turkeys.) Waterfowl is too messy to have with our chickens and guineas are too noisy for us. — Jackie

Anthill and snow sliding off of roof

There is a HUGE anthill inside my chicken pen. The ants are red with black rears. I am getting ready to put my nearly 7 week old chicks out there, will these ants hurt the chicks? If so, how do I get rid of them?
 
We live on the dry side of Oregon. We are wanting to do the rain catchment system. We receive a lot of snow (except this past winter!) and I was wondering how this is going to work with the snow sliding off the roof and hitting the gutters. Any ideas on this?

Maida Gaddis
Bonanza, Oregon

Thank you, Maida. Ants usually don’t bother chicks but with a huge mound in your chicken yard, I’d try to get rid of it before putting your chicks out … just in case. I’d try shoveling the hill flat then pouring boiling water (lots of it!) over the area. Then get some diatomaceous earth and sprinkle over the spot. This will usually do the trick, encouraging surviving ants to move on to another location.

What I would do is put up removable gutters so you can use them in the warmer months then take them down, come late fall, before snow starts falling. This way you can catch rainwater when you need it then not have to worry about gutters pulling off due to snow. This is what we plan on doing on our house. — Jackie

4 COMMENTS

  1. Hey mom this is for the lady wanting to catch water. I live in Ketchikan Alaska up here we have many people on there own water cisterns and all they do is line there roof with snow shoes and use a good quality metal gutter with a quality mounting system and a screen for leaves and pine needles. About 5k people are not on our municipal water system and this is how they have been for over 100 yrs.
    Love your son

  2. I have trouble with black ants making nests and destroying tree roots on my fruit trees. Also they make large nests anywhere its partly sandy. I have found used cooking oil does a good job getting rid of them. Just beware it will kill grass too.

  3. Those in Oregon may want to check out state regulations before trying to collect water. The last I heard, the state is very unfriendly towards doing so. I read they say they “own” all water, including rain and snow. One man was fined huge amounts for doing so in the article I read. (Sorry, do not remember where. It may of been Mother Earth news?) I heard of the same ridiculous regulations are in CO, too.

  4. Those ants are called Thatcher ants and are a big deal near people and animals. They can and will bite anything that treads within 2m of their nest and I can tell you that their bite is no joke. I’m on the left side of OR and spend hours each year cutting down their population. They’re also known to build nests 2m+ in width and a full meter in height if left unchecked, so take care of that problem before letting the birds near them!

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