March on the homestead

[Deberosa]

It poured rain all night but by mid morning the sun came out so we headed into fence building. But first things first.

I got the brush hog off of the tractor, then pulled the cattle panel chicken coop over to the new place the chickens will be for the summer so they can clear out another brushy area for me behind the wood shed.

Then I got the tractor hooked up to the new free wagon and loaded it with fencing material. Kurt finished off one side while I started putting posts in for the other side. We got quite a bit done before it started raining and should finish a good perimeter fence tomorrow. Next weekend the cattle panels will go in out by the road to finish the acre around the brushy area where I will move the cows and the pigs this summer for some free land clearing. I'll also be able to move the chickens into a new area. Once all of these fences are complete it will be easy to rotate pastures and gardens as needed.

Moved some more plants and pumped the water from the hole in the field twice. The level in the septic went up with the rain but not a whole lot. We may be OK soon for the season, but still watching it closely and still using the wonderful porta potty on the driveway. ::)

Daisy posed for a closeup today: ;-)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/009.jpg

[Catalpa]

Went to early service today; then we can leave right after Sunday school. Wanted to get in some cross country skiing, but a stiff south wind has come up, and everything is turning to slush. I can tell I'll have water in my basement by tomorrow afternoon, especially if all the rain that's forecast actually gets here.

Fencing is hard work; sounds like you're getting a lot accomplished. What kind of cow is Daisy?

[Dobelo17]

Hi Deberosa,
Sounds like a busy day. I like to build fence you can always
see you got something done. Daisy looks like a sweety.
WHere are you located? I would love to see grass again.
Have a great week. ;)

Becky

[tufhelp]

My heart beat quickened a bit when I read the title to this thread... Whew, that was a close one! ;)

[Deberosa]

Didn't mean to scare you so Tufhelp. ;-)

It was a busy day but today was even busier! We completed the inner fencing - over 400 ft more today! Next weekend will be the cattle panel perimeter fencing but should be much easier. Now this week I need to move the dark Cornish chickens to the new fenced area so they can clear it out of weeds and brush. Plus they will have lots of places to nest in this new area.

T-Bone woke us up with mooing very early this morning. Turns out she caught her halter on a dead tree stump. No harm done - have no idea how she managed that trick the stump doesn't even have any branches on it!

I agree fencing really looks like progress!

I'll need this week to recover from my weekend!

[lostinthewoods]

Our March has been really productive this far..... Hopefully it will last! ;)

One the first we replaced all of the gutters on the back of the house to help in catching more rain water. We replaced the old 5gallon catch basin and now we have a 55gallon drum as a catch basin diverting water into the cistern. Today we started the massive spring cleaning of the yard. Cleaned out around the wood pile, hauled out old rotten wood to the garden to be burnt.

The run off from all the rain and snow we have gotten lately has eroded a big-ol canyon in the garden so we placed to bales of straw in it to divert the water out and dug a few little trenches to help.

If the weather holds we will finish cleaning the yard tomorrow.

lost

[GoodDaughter]

I don't post a lot, but here goes anyway :D

I've been picking peas for about six weeks now, and I think they're about finished. I have a couple of quarts left to pick, and then will pull up the vines to give to the chickens. Maybe I'll get that done tomorrow.

I put some straw around my potatoes, they're about 6 to 8" tall and I've never put straw around them but I've always read that it will make more potatoes that way, so I did it. We'll see what happens.

Spring is springing here. The oaks and pines have started shedding pollen. I have some roses that have started blooming and tons of buds on others. Daffodils are opening, and just today I noticed that the buds on the plum trees are starting to split open--that first bit of green is showing on the swollen buds. I haven't looked at my apple trees yet, but I bet they are about to bloom, too.

I got some work done cleaning out the chicken pen and the chicken house today. It wasn't too dirty, they mostly like to roost outside in their pen all year, they don't go into their house too much.

I'm waiting for a bit of expendable money and I'm going to buy some materials for working on the outside of the house before it gets too hot. I need to do some things to the garage, and I would like to build a staircase up against the back wall of the house so I can access the area up under the roof--can't really call it an attic, it's more like a 5 ft. tall open space because of the way the roof is shaped on this house. Anyway, it's good, usable storage space but I don't have any way to get up there other than a ladder, and I'm not about to go toting things up and down a ladder, so I want to build a staircase.

[machinemaker]

We had another 18" of snow yesterday, but today is sunny and beautiful. I got up early to run the snow blower, but now I can see the continental divide out the window. Just a little cloud cap hanging on the peaks and a gentle breeze.
kent

[humbug]

It has been beautiful here the last couple of days. I am busy getting a pen ready for a goat that I bought. She is a 4 year old bred nubian due to kid in April. I am using cattle panels for the pen. I want it to be portable and I want something that she will not be able to get out of. I have also got some seeds started under lights and will get out and rototil the garden when some of the mud dries up.

[jen_in_southtexas]

Well i finally have some time off of work. At least for a coupla weeks. Whew!!!

Yesterday(Monday) me and Mom spent the entire day together. We took a drive up to my little homestead which is about 55-60 miles from where i currently live. Things are finally turning green. I've got grass coming in, the mesquites are growing their leaves and it everything is just looking so pretty. We took a drive to the back of the property just to check on things and on the way back up front we stood on the hill on the easement, turned off the truck and just sat there admiring the view. My trailer nestled on the edge of some woods looked cozy. My plans though are to build a small one room cabin this year sometime and put it on the exact spot that my travel trailer sits on. I cant wait.

I was going to dig up a garden pond with my shovel but my friend said he would bring his backhoe and dig it up for me so that i wouldnt have to do it. What a nice guy! I only plan on maybe a 10'x15' pond. I have a spot picked out for it. Today i will measure and mark it so that all he has to do is backhoe it.

I finally broke down and got me a brand new chainsaw. Ive got lots of cutting/manicuring to do. I will start that today and clean up my trees and cut some nuisance trees down, stumps etc. The guy that came out and did some dozer work somehow hit and old old mesquite tree and a branch about 10" thick is just dangling from it. That is useful wood for BBQ-ing. There are other trees that are just thrown on the property that can be useful for heat and cooking that need to get cut into logs. I have a coupla brush piles that bother me just sitting there. When all is said and done I will put those brush piles on the utility trailer and take them to the back of the property and put them on caliche that way when the burn ban finally lifts i can burn them.

Other that that, a cold front blew in today that caught me and Mom by surprise. It was pleasant but the winds that we have been having the past coupla days are so darn annoying.

Other than this, nothing really interesting going on. Im just happy that things are finally looking green. We do need some rain though.

I hope everyone is looking forward to Spring as i am and may the sun shine bright upon your faces.

-Jen
in South Texas :)

[bee_pipes]

Humbug's seed starter rack is working like a charm. We are beginning to fill it up. The weather is still not quite stable, we have a couple of nights with freezing temperatures coming. Butr every nice day we have serves as a reminder that spring is on the way.

We had problems last year with bell peppers. They are slow plants when grown from seed, so the seed starter rack gave us a chance to give them a head start. Tomatos don't seem to be a problem, but we run through a lot of plants in the course of a season, so it's a constant process - adding tomatos to the garden. Last year we planted 80 of them.

This is our first year trying tobacco. It's nice to have the plants in a controlled environment where we can observe them as they are starting out.

The large plants are gourds. The gourd seeds are a bugger to get germinated - they are large seeds, like sunflowers, but bigger. It takes time to get the outer shell soaked and for the seedling to break out. We decided to try starting them as bedding plants this year, rather than planting directly in the ground. The gourds are now trying to take over.

There are a lot of plants we want to starte in flats this year. Beans, corn and peas will still go in the ground, but just about everything else wiill start in a flat under the seed starter.

(Mozilla/FireFox users right-click and view image for a larger picture)
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o120/bee_pipes/seed_starter_started.jpg

Think Spring!

Regards,
Pat

[Deberosa]

Jen I hate the wind too! We had quite a bit of wind here Monday with more rain but yesterday was much nicer. Today I took a vacation day because it's supposed to be nice. Very cold out right now (30) and foggy.

I started my seeds last night in my seed starter. 4 kinds of tomatoes, two dozen of each. Much fewer than last year! Some will be sold to a few friends who want them each year but the rest will go in the rebuilt hoop house. ALso planted 4 dozen basil plants, cumin, parsley, chard and some early greens. Next year I'll have it together to grow greens all year but too much going on last fall. I am going to buy pepper plants this year. Decided to take on less and be successful - sure hope that plan works.


Jake spent his first night "free range" outside now that the perimeter fence is complete. He did great - slept in his crate as usual but did fend of something about 5:00 AM. Perhaps a deer because he was all over the property barking and he almost never barks. Good dog!

Today I hope to get stuff organized around the yard and garden. Picking up the remainder of mulch material and irrigation hose to prepare for tilling. I want to get an early crop of buckwheat and spelt in if I can.


Also I am going to move Martha the Basset hound to a different enclosure and put Daisy in her yard for the day. It's about 50 by 50 and mostly it's very tall grass that has started to turn green. Might as well use my lawn mower to eat it down for a day or two! It's so tall that Martha doesn't even go into it because her belly is too close to the ground! Martha got to roam the yard with Jake yesterday and they had a great time exploring. Glad the fence is in!

Another project is to pick rocks out of the field garden. They are about egg size or a little bigger and with the rain all winter plus the heavy grazing by the dark cornish chickens(it was planted with alfalfa and clover), they stand out so it won't take much to get them gathered up. A few years of that plus lots of organic material and it will be a great garden area! The dark cornish are getting moved gradually to an entirely new area to clear for the summer - but they are reluctant to explore their expanded area, might need some encouragement soon! I put their food over there where they can see it but they still like their current digs better so far!

As I was typing this I was very rudely interrupted. The dang neighbors at the salvage yard have this lab/pit bull cross - bad news right from the start but they don't keep it in. My dog was going nuts so I get out there and it's gotten under the new fence and is terrrorizing my turkeys and chickens!!! I kept screaming for them to come get it and Jake was gallantly trying to chase it - dangerous for him too!! Stupid thing didn't know how to get back out. I finally got a gate open and Jake herded it into the main yard but the driveway gate was shut - couldn't get it out of the woods so went over to them steaming mad. By that time stupid dog figured it out, I put Jake in the truck so he wouldn't run into the road. Just called the Sherrif because they need to know it will cost big time if that dog harms anything here. Luckily my free range birds are very resourcefull and were all up in trees so no harm done this time except to my stress level! We still have about 30 cattle panels to put up this weekend to fortify the outer perimeter and create another layer of safety but Daisy and the pigs are going to be on the other side of those panels so it's still a risk. GRRRR!

Now I've got to wait until the Sheriff calls back....

[DM]

March on my place has been sunny and nice so far... We had more than enough snow in Feb to make up for it, so i'm happy it's warming up and sunny out now!

I'll soon be back at logging and sawmilling, as i still have quite a few 5/4 boards and 3x8x16's to saw out for a customer friend...

DM

[Deberosa]

Yeah, forgot I need to move the wood pile dumped in the driveway last December! Arrg - too many projects!

The Sherrif called back - essentially tells me I can do what I want with that dog - he called the salvage yard and they are claiming they don't own a dog!!! So I called the Animal Control - they only will pick up agressive dogs so looks like I take some shooting lessons this weekend. The sheriff did make it clear to them if that dog injured any livestock they would be liable for the cost but if they are disowning the dog that will be a real hassle. GRRRR.

On a good note - I think my septic is back to normal! May keep the porta potty as a backup for a week but everything else is normal now - yeah!!!

[LeatherneckPA]

Deb, the answer to your problem is SSS.

Shoot it,
Shovel it,
Shut up!

[Deberosa]

Deb, the answer to your problem is SSS.

Shoot it,
Shovel it,
Shut up!

Yes, It happened too fast. I am going to go practice with my new shotgun this weekend. Next time he gets trapped in one of these inside yards I will be able to put Jake safely away and then take my time for a safe shot. The deputy kept telling me that and when that idiot disowned the dog it was the last straw. Looked up the law and once a dog has attacked your livestock it only has to be on your property for you to legally take care of things.

[jen_in_southtexas]

Deb,

Ya do what ya gotta do!

-j

[lostinthewoods]

Deb,

My dad always told me, "if you're ever going to shoot something (someone) you'll go to prison for the same amount of time for killin it once as yo will for killing it twice". That being said if you do have to shoot the dog BE SURE IT DOESN'T MAKE IT HOME! Not calling you a bad shot but you can bet if the dog makes it home the salvage yard owner will then recover from his amnesia and sue you for shooting his dog! :o

Well now on to a lighter topic. Yesterday we started planting seed to start our plants. We started: Tomatoes (Roma, Big Beef Hybrid, Brandy wine pink heirlooms, Rainbow Hillbilly heirlooms, Improve Gurney Girl Hybrid, Amish Hillbilly heirlooms), Cabbage, Cucumbers (both slicing and pickling), Kohlrabi, California Wonder Bell Peppers, Tabasco peppers, jalapeño peppers, habenaro peppers, and lots of different herbs. If all the seeds we planted do come up we'll have LOTS of plants, actually more than we'll be able to grow ourselves, so we'll have some to give away too. Here a shot of the 2 totes we bought to serve a green houses.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/lostinthewuds/IMGP1595.jpg

I couldn't find my "grow" lites so just a cheapo flood lite will have to work in the meanwhile.

lost

[bee_pipes]

3/4
We had a dandy front move through the region last night. It started raining in earnest about 6 PM or so last night and kept it up steadily until 4 or 5 this morning. Guesses from the weatherman are 3 inches of rain. We can’t tell because the gasket was blown out of the rain gauge on the last freeze. The ponds are full and overflowing. A clear trail of leaves on the hillside behind us marks the passage of water. The creek is running hard and is extremely high. It has carved out a few new trenches and deposited gravel in some of the meanders. The course in front to the house has changed slightly. We have a small, rocky piece of ground with a few trees that was an island – the creek split and flowed around both sides. The front branch, a shallow that was a good place to water the dogs, has all but dried up. The majority of the creek’s flow is now going behind the “island” and cutting into the hill side.

3/7
Most of the water left by the rain has drained. There is still water perking from hillsides and creek banks, but the creek has returned to its normal level. The ponds are slowly returning to their low levels too. A shame – the elevated levels made them nice ponds.
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/6987/pondfm9.jpg
The fellow that put in the storm shelter said that the ponds would never fill because of the cattails growing in the middle of the ponds. These plants seem to leak water into the subsoil under the pond because their roots puncture the clay lining. He also recommended fencing the ponds and raising a few pigs. The pigs will eat all vegetation, wallow and walk through the pond, packing and sealing the clay. I have heard that before, from other people, but our friend Tony tried the same thing and did not have the success these people claimed. Tony also tried throwing bentonite into the pond. Bentonite is a clay, most commonly used to lubricate drills used for wells. It swells when it gets wet and is supposed to work well with sealing leaky ponds. I know Tony, and know that he would do the job up right. If he had no luck, my excesses in approaching a problem would likely not work either.

The last two days have been spent digging post holes. So far 5 are completed, two more to go. Digging a post hole is hard work in this soil. Normally we would have Tony bring over the tractor with the post hole differ, but I hate to have him go to all the trouble of loading up the tractor and bringing it over for just 7 holes. Yesterday I managed to dig three holes. Since the work is difficult and tiring, I don’t go at it until the job is done – it is best to chip away at the job over a matter of days. When the last two holes are dug, we will go up in the hills and find 7 cedars suitable for 10 foot poles. The plan is to bury two feed in the ground and provide 8 foot uprights for roof trusses. Three will hold up a roof over the firewood. Tarps have not worked out that well for keeping the wood dry and are becoming holey and tattered. The other 4 posts will be used to shelter compost cover material from the weather. Normally this would not matter, but the bales of straw are decomposing before they can be used. This is not necessarily a bad thing – but the wet, rotting straw mats easily, preventing air spaces needed for the composting process. The roofing would also make an excellent place for water collection, to be used in washing out the collection buckets used for composting.

Karen and I took a look at the garden yesterday. The garlic is doing well. We have yet to see any asparagus spears, so winter can’t be dismissed as of yet. We also discussed a bed we wanted to build up for root vegetables, like carrots. Last year’s carrots were a little stunted, which can be blamed on our rocky soil. Eventually the soil will improve enough for these plants; we just want to speed the process up in the one bed.
Plants in the seed starter are doing quite well.

3/8
We got a good snow last night. Karen took a ruler along when she gave the dogs their morning yard break. She measured 7 inches on average. We walked around about sunrise, enjoying the way the landscape changed in appearance. It is a waste of time taking the dogs out to go to the bathroom. When they hit the snow that’s the last thing on their minds. They run, leap, play grab-ass with each other and spend much time with their noses buried in the snow. We can’t turn more than one of them loose at a time, otherwise they get preoccupied with each other and run off. One at a time we have managed to get each dog out and cut them loose to run it off. It is nice to see creatures so delighted with being alive. The chickens are quite suspicious of the new landscape. The guineas are still up in the trees, honking loudly. The turkeys have a nice, enclosed area but insist on sleeping in the more exposed portions of their hootch. Both were chattering loudly about the recent weather, so I shut them up with an early feeding. There’s nothing quite like the silence of a snowy morning. Tomorrow temperatures are supposed to be in the 50’s, so this will all be gone. This is my kind of winter. Karen has gotten her snow fix, and I am not much put out by this business.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7820/snowyporchnc3.jpg
Porch and driveway covered in snow.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/70/feedingchickensinsnownb1.jpg
Coming in from feeding poultry. One of the few times a year the old field jacket sees daylight.

The guineas spent a lot of hours in the trees. They finally came down when they got hungry enough to brave the snow. The chickens wouldn’t move around in the high snow so I had to make them a path to the creek. The sun that came out in the afternoon melted this path down to the ground, along with the driveway and a few other patches. All the birds were doing their best to stay in the clear patches. Other than the snow, it turned out to be a mild enough day, and I’d be surprised to see snow anywhere by sundown tomorrow.

Regards,
Pat

[Deberosa]

What a great post - thanks Pat!

It's been another busy weekend here but mostly with spring cleaning! Another truckload of junk to the dump - it's starting to look pretty nice around here! Also picked more rocks from the field - and tried to herd the chickens to their new home - they are creatures of habit for sure! Also got the big garden cleared of irrigation hose and weed cloth so this week I will be able to till and put in the first cover crop. BUckwheat for 6 weeks on the side I am going to put the garden in and alfalfa and clover and spelt on the other half. I am so glad it's light later now!

So this week I will be putting the tiller on the tractor and start on planting, so far the rain has held off so things could dry out a bit.

[bee_pipes]

Tell me more about your cover crops - when do you plant, for how long, and what do you plant. How do you decide what to plant? And then you till it under for the real crop?

Regards,
Pat

[Deberosa]

Well, I am a cover crop novice. ;-) Martin and DM come to my rescue!

My plan is to plant buckwheat now in the spot I plan to grow my garden. It's supposed to be ready to plow under in 6 weeks which is perfect for tilling under and then letting it set for a couple of weeks. I am not going to rush planting this year because the spring is just too cold and damp here even if we don't have frost.

The other part of the garden I want to try spelt. It's a little damper there anyhow and spelt is supposed to grow well in the damp. Also I hope to get some grain from it for the chickens for the winter. Also in that part I am planting a summer alfalfa that just grows for the summer - till it under in the fall and plant winter rye on the whole thing which will over winter here. In another area I am planting gigantic clover - it's supposed to get 3 feet tall. It's an area that has been worked over quite well by the chickens since it's where I would feed them this winter so I am hoping for a good crop that I can cut for fodder.

That's my plan, we'll see how it works. I liked the Pine Tree seeds catalog because they seemed to have alot of different kinds of cover crops and good instructions on how to use them.

A neighbor came up to the fence while I was working - wanted to know about my tractor. He has a landscape company with a small John Deer. Seems he has attachments quite a bit different than mine including a backhoe so we might trade some tilling for digging. ;-)

[DM]

I no longer plant a cover crop... I have plenty of mulch and turkey poop, so i don't bother with a cover crop. I always figured it was less work to throw grass and leaves into the garden instead buying seed for a cover crop...

Once i learned to mulch "heavy" in the gardens, i always felt that the mulch did a LOT more good than a cover crop ever did... and was a LOT faster at building up the soil.

When i did plant a cover crop, i mostly planted rye... and sometimes buck wheat. You can let the weeds get up there 6" and till them in for a cover crop too...

I do "sometimes" plant a little buck wheat on one end of my garden to draw bee's in though...

DM

[pergammano]

In my area of the country, we have such obnoxious native weeds, that all gardens must be weeded, and every little piece of root removed! So each spring, I have to screen all my soil. The encroachers are crab grass, wild sorrel, quack grass & miners lettuce. Only the Miners lettuce is edible..but one can only eat so much. If you till these in...you've multiplied your problem tenfold. Mulching seems to promote their growth.

That's all done...and the legumes, brassicas and mesclun are in...still a little cold for root veggies...all nightshade family I grow in containers, so roots get that extra heat they love.

To each his own, but the one thing that I have now is a dehydrator, as I get long in the tooth, I find dehydrating an effcient way of putting food by.

Happy planting.

[DM]

In my area of the country, we have such obnoxious native weeds, that all gardens must be weeded, and every little piece of root removed! So each spring, I have to screen all my soil. *The encroachers are crab grass, wild sorrel, quack grass & miners lettuce. *Only the Miners lettuce is edible..but one can only eat so much. *If you till these in...you've multiplied your problem tenfold. *Mulching seems to promote their growth.

That's all done...and the legumes, brassicas and mesclun are in...still a little cold for root veggies...all nightshade family I grow in containers, so roots get that extra heat they love.

To each his own, but the one thing that I have now is a dehydrator, as I get long in the tooth, I find dehydrating an effcient way of putting food by.

Happy planting.

We have a lot of weeds here too, many of the same ones you listed and more, especially since i have rich soil that gets plenty of water.

If you mulch like i do, the weeds can't grow through it, so there's not very much weeding to do at all. The amount of time it takes me to mulch the gardens in, is nothing compared to the time it saves weeding and watering!

http://www.fototime.com/634E1272CCB867E/orig.jpg

In the fall, when you till all that mulch under, it's the food for next years crop of veggies. I don't buy any chem. ferts at all...

DM

[bee_pipes]

3/9
Today was a good day. The weather was mild, so I went out to work on the last two post holes. While digging the first hole, I found the cable to the old trailer. The old trailer is the original dwelling on this property. We knew approximately where the cable was buried, and that it was a shallow cable, but having an idea of its whereabouts and having it in your hand are two different things. We managed to figure out which breaker shut off power to the old trailer, dig up the entire cable, and rebury the cable on a run to the shed. The electrical hook-up is fairly simple. The power enters the property through a main service panel. Power then goes to two sub-panels – one in the house, one to the old trailer. The sub-panel in the old trailer is in excellent shape, so it should work just fine for the shed, bringing a standard 220v hookup. I didn’t get the post holes finished, but in spite of that the day went pretty well. Finding and moving this cable was a job I was not looking forward to. By then end of the day we had a trench dug, ran the cable into the shed structure, and buried the cable.

As soon as the shed is finished, we will be tearing down the old trailer. The trailer is a goldmine of salvage materials – aluminum sheeting, doors, windows, fixtures, wiring, steel beams and whatnot. We need the shed to store the salvage out of the weather until it can be used. Karen already has plans for a greenhouse against the side of the shed, using the old windows from the trailer. The trailer itself would have made an adequate shed and workshop, but past owners have let it fall into disrepair. The roof has been leaking for years and the floor is beginning to give way. There will be a lot of rubbish from water damage and unusable materials. Being a trailer, construction was made with weight as a concern, so walls are thin and much of the structure is stapled together. What we can’t use will be hauled to the dump, one truckload at a time.

3/10
Today we finished the last of the post holes, tamped the trench on the new cable run, and went up in the hills and cut 7 cedar poles for our construction. As of yet, only two have been skidded back down hill. The rest are cut and staged, ready to be retrieved. A wonderful day, weather-wise, and a real pleasure to be out and about. Karen did a wonderful job helping, she managed to get me through the day without losing any of my limbs to the chainsaw, and we managed to skid two of the cedars without accident or mishap.

3/14
Yesterday’s chore was to skid the cedar logs our of the hills. It took three additional trips to bring down the last 5 logs, along with salvage we took from an old hunting blind the last owners had up there. The salvage consisted of two nice cedar posts, a 12 foot ladder construction and a small structure made from pressure treated boards. I don’t know what use we will have for these salvage items, but they seemed to valuable to just leave up there. There was also some plywood, but it had been lying on the ground for a few years and is all but useless. Because the terrain is so hilly, we use a 550cc ATV as our tractor. It does pretty well, but can’t tug the load of a tractor or larger machine. On the plus side, it doesn’t tip as easily as a tractor.

The cedar logs got their butts flattened with a chainsaw and are in position near the post holes they will occupy. This is kind of late in the season to be cutting trees; the sap is weeping from the cedars. I never thought much about cedars having sap. They must have something to work as a tree. It is a particularly thick, resinous material. Gladly, it is not as bad as typical pine sap. The cedar sap washes off adequately to stop being sticky; whereas pinesap seems to last forever. The logs are quite heavy – much of that weight no doubt to sap and moisture content. They are generally small logs – 8 to 10 inches on the butts of the larger ones, as small as 6 inches on the tips - all the old cedars have been logged out long ago. We found 5 trees suitable for poles, two of them large enough to make a pair of poles. Each needs to be 10 foot long – 2 feet of each will be buried in the post hole, leaving 8 feet clearance to the roof. After planting each pole plumb, a line and level will be used to mark the top of each pole. The three poles for the firewood roof will be hanging off the side of the shed. We put the larger poles on the compost bin, where the roof will be a free-standing structure. I’m going to try using 4-6 inch saplings for cross members, with notches and carriage bolt, washers and nuts. Karen has her grandfather’s old tool box, which contains an auger brace we can use to make the bolt holes.

Tony, our friend and neighbor in nearby Pineview, came into some construction timbers a few weeks ago. They are nice 6x6 pieces, made for a decorative wall on houses and other buildings. Three sides are square and the fourth is rounded – resulting in a wall with a sort of log construction look. He generously loaded a trailer with them and they are waiting for the backhoe to level out the entrance to our storm shelter. These timbers will make an excellent retaining wall. The plan is to bore holes in the timbers and drive lengths of rebar through them to anchor the timbers to the ground. Once we get the wall built, we can begin landscaping the resulting terraces to prevent erosion and runoff. He is charging me 1$ per timber used, with unused timbers to be sawn into 2x6 boards and returned to him. What a bargain!

This morning we got three of the cedars erected, aligned with existing posts and tamped in. A few rains and a little more tamping and the posts will be ready to work with. Somebody was asking about using logs for poles, so here's a pair of pictures:

(mozilla and firefox users right-click and view image to see larger pictures)
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/6140/postholelc8.jpg
Butt of pole resting on fulcrum. Graduated PVC pipe to check hole depth. Scrap 2x6 for backstop. Fulcrum and backstop keep post from tearing up hole sides and filling bottom with more dirt. Nothing left to do but lift pole into place and nail legs on sides to hold it up while adjusting position.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/6728/posterectedeu6.jpg
Three poles in place. Holes filled and tamped. Twine used while adjusting pole position and tamping to check allignment with other posts. Now they sit for a few days and settle with rain and weather. legs left on to keep poles from stressing holes.

Regards,
Pat

[Deberosa]

Another great post, Pat! That's how we put our posts in but not after alot of trying to figure out what would work!

THis has been another huge weekend around Deberosa.

Saturday we did alot of cleanup work around the place. But first we went to a Farm Swap Meet! It turned out to be pretty small, but I did find a great deal on a back blade for my tractor!

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/011.jpg

Plus I planted over a dozen honeysuckle bushes along the south edge of the property where the hoop house used to be. It's amazing how nice the soil is there now - after one year of growing tomatoes and mulching with straw then running the pullets in the area on more straw until the storm tore the house down! I'll be planting the thornless blackberries that are in the greenhouse till they get started in the middle of this area and since the soil has so much organic matter in it there I plan on putting a block of corn at one end, about 20 by 10 ft.

On Sunday we did lots of fencing! Got up over half of the cattle panels that will keep Daisy and the pigs in the brushy area:
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/009-1.jpg

The curly connectors are things we found on FarmTek and they are great for connecting the panels - no way they will come apart. Then put the rest up with T-Posts.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/deberosa/008-1.jpg

Then it started to rain again so back inside by the fire! It never did get above 45 degrees all weekend!

[flatwater]

Deborosa
Do they still have those huge tiger slugs over on the west side and what do your chickens do to the slugs? When I lived over there by the duwamish slew the ducks would gobble them down like candy but watching it would gag a magot.
Flatwater

[Deberosa]

Deborosa
Do they still have those huge tiger slugs over on the west side and what do your chickens do to the slugs? When I lived over there by the duwamish slew the ducks would gobble them down like candy but watching it would gag a magot.
Flatwater
Oh, yes there are still lots of huge slugs here but the Musovies have gotten most of them. Plus the guineas take care of them too. Did you know the banana slugs are protected now! ::)

[jen_in_southtexas]

Headed to the homestead today to check up on things. *It had rained in the city 60miles away and windy as heck again. *Glad I went because some corrugated aluminum sheets that i had in my "material area" somehow got loose and ended up on the neighbors property. *Took care of that and secured it. *The temperature was probably in the upper 60's, overcast, windy so i thought that i might do some mowing since i didnt finish the last time. *Well I did a little till i got a flat tire in the right back rear tire. *Great! *By now it started sprinkiling hard, the drops were cold, i was in flipflops and shorts, had to tow the mower with the truck, remove the tire. *And wouldnt you know this all happens when it starts to rain!?

I think some wild dogs are back. *There is alot of barking going on at the back of the property. *They travel in packs cause ive seen them before. *

Something got a hold of a dove(s). *There are feathers scattered everywhere by the gate. *Probably a bobcat or the panther that roams. *The feline tracks I've seen are pretty big so it might be the panther. The quail were already singing then the owl chimed in. *The sounds of nature are wonderful. *I kind of wished i had stayed there but i have important errands to run tomorrow before i go back. *

My mesquite trees are coming along just fine. *They looked beautiful.

Respectfully,
-jen

[humbug]

It seems like I have been incredibly busy this month with the weather warming up...finally.

Beepipes..thanks for the fencing tutorial. I am starting to fence the back of my lot ( I have just over a half acre where I live right now.) I chose 5 foot high concrete wire. I priced the five foot high field fencing...$120 for a 100 foot roll. The concrete wire is heavier and $89.00 for a 150 foot roll. (prices at the Reno Home Depot) I went with the concrete wire. It is not galvanized so will rust sooner, but I live in the desert where we only get about 7 inches of rain a year, so it will not rust out in my lifetime. I am planning on putting a strand of barb wire along the time. I am hoping to keep the deer out and also my next door neighbors goats. He puts up two strands of electrical wire and thinks that will keep them in...of course it never does.
My chicks arrive today or tomorrow, will try to post a picture. I ordered 25 Buff Orpingtons, straight run. I would like to order a meat assortment in a month or two but right now I can only handle the buffs.

I serviced my rototillar, but it was still too wet last week to work the soil up. I am just starting six days off so will get that done this week. I talked to a local sheep owner and was able to get several truckloads of manure from her. I planted ten blackberry bushes, and got in a row of peas and a row of radishes outside. I have many plants started inside under my lights and will be starting more this week.
I started my adventures in wheat grinding and whole grain bread baking. I love my wheat mill.
The season will really start getting busy. Spring has always been my busiest time. Happy Homesteading this month guys. :D

[DM]

Hey Deb,

Here's how i put those T-post in really fast. I load everything i need into the bucket of my tractor, and drive over where the post are going. Once i know where the post are going, i stand the post up and start it with a hammer. Then get on the tractor, place the "back part" of the bottom of the loader bucket over the post, and lower the bucket, pushing the post down to the depth i want. Have the bucket level with the ground when you start pushing... Then back up to where the next post is going...

It's much faster with two people, BUT the person on the ground has to PAY ATTENTION to where they put there hands. AND to get out of the way before you start pushing.

Your tractor may not be heavy enough to push them in, in tough soil, but you can help that by putting some dirt in the bucket to make it heavier...

PLEASE be carefull, if you try to do this... Work alone for a while to see if it works for you... But to those of us that have been doing it for many years, it works very good, and is fast!

DM

[Deberosa]

*Hey Deb,

*Here's how i put those T-post in really fast. *I load everything i need into the bucket of my tractor, and drive over where the post are going. *Once i know where the post are going, i stand the post up and start it with a hammer. *Then get on the tractor, place the "back part" of the bottom of the loader bucket over the post, and lower the bucket, pushing the post down to the depth i want. *Have the bucket level with the ground when you start pushing... *Then back up to where the next post is going...

*It's much faster with two people, BUT the person on the ground has to PAY ATTENTION to where they put there hands. *AND to get out of the way before you start pushing.

*Your tractor may not be heavy enough to push them in, in tough soil, but you can help that by putting some dirt in the bucket to make it heavier...

*PLEASE be carefull, if you try to do this... *Work alone for a while to see if it works for you... *But to those of us that have been doing it for many years, it works very good, and is fast!

*DM

NOW you tell me. ;-)

Actually that would have been difficult for much of this fence because it winds it's way between trees and bushes but would have worked along the driveway for sure!

I'll have to try that though because there seems to always be t-post projects around here!

Thanks

[humbug]

They came..They came :D :D

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a271/nvhumbug/chickens005.jpg

25 Buff Orpingtons...actually 26 the hatchery(Meyers) shipped 26, they were very happy and active.

[bee_pipes]

Congratulations! We've been real happy with ours. They aren't the biggest birds, but they have a real good personality, are reliable egg layers, and large enough for me and my wife. Ours pretty much run loose around the yard during the day. lay in their house. We're thinking about trying other breeds, a few here and there, but I think we'll always have buff orpingtons.

Glad to hear they are healthy. The hatchery we went through sent an extra - for attrition during shipping, I suppose. They were all real active - the best sign of healthy chicks. Any foot deformities? We had one with a goofed up middle toe on one foot - we called her 5-toe. She got handled a lot and was a real friendly bird. Last year we hatched out a bunch of their eggs - the second generation was just as healthy.

Regards,
Pat

[bookwormom]

not that anyone missed my ramblings, however, I am back. First I had a pile of computer trouble and then I went for my annual four week visit with my folks. Dad of course has me beat, he had radishes and lettuce growing in his little greenhouse already. Mom proudly showed me a picture of Dad on a ladder picking tomatoes. Excuse me if a I get carried away with my folks once in a while.

well, I can hear my bones creaking and have been going to bed early. There just is so much to do on this place. We are getting close to having several acres of brush cleared for more pasture. We used snippers, an ax and a chainsaw and lots of elbow grease. Bush hogging over the area is next. We want to seed it in a good pasture mix. What I am wondering is, should it be disked first? We do not have a disk.
The garden has greened up with the green manure cover crops we planted last fall, mostly winter wheat, hairy vetch and ladino clover. About one third of the garden we are planning to seed in buckwheat and sunflowers, as a cover crop and for the bees. Buckwheat is supposed to clear out weeds like quackgrass. I planted peas today, also started tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and artichokes (not the Jerusalem) in pots. After the deed was done I realized I was a bit hasty on the artichokes, they are eaten in the flower stage and today was a fruit day (Leo). I don't always manage to do things by the moon, but I try.
Blacky looks like she could have her calf any day. I hope it will be less trouble than with Grumpy. Brownie is supposed to calf in April, but she does not look very pregnant . She is the smallest of our little cows and also the cutest ( I think). I marvel how sweet hubby has got them trained. He thinks I should have no trouble milking both Blacky and Brownie. Yeah, if I figure out how to keep the calf in a stall over night so I can milk in the morning, and make it plausible to momma cow and keep her from going bonkers over her child. goats are easier. If anyone has any advice, please, I need all the help I can get.
I can't let sweet hubby go to TSC alone. He came back with six chicks (again), so I have two mineral tubs standing by the kitchen stove to keep the little fellers warm. The first batch is much bigger and bullying the little ones. I understand they are Rhode Island Reds and Wyandottes. something is wrong with the electrical set up in the barn, I have no idea what, but that is why I have the chicks in the kitchen and not under a red light in the hen house. Sweet hubby likes for chickens to lay brown eggs. so here I am, contemplating if I should buy white eggs to color. I want some white egg layers. At home we always died eggs on the Thursday before Easter and ate the first wild greens. I guess I'll be a day late, sure thought it was Wednesday.

[bookwormom]

DM, what timely advice, we sure want to give your method a try. thanks a bunch.

[Deberosa]

Welcome back bookwormom! What cute fuzzballs Humbug!

I think Daisy is pregnant and should calve in a month or two if so. She is getting huge for sure so don't think it all fat... *She only gets hay to eat.

Today we finished the fence - woo hoo!!! *Also put up a temporary fence in a grassy area and put Daisy in there for a while. *T-Bone bawled ceaselessly and Daisy was OK for a while then wanted to go back to her baby...

I am going to look for pigs starting this week - we are ready!!! *

The Dark Cornish hen still has her 4 chicks so she is being a good mother. *Others have checked out the new nesting place I set up for them so hopefully more chicks will follow.

I transplanted greens, chard, pear tomatoes, hamburger tomatoe (hybrid) and basil to 4 inch pots and moved them to the greenhouse - now there is more room to start the zinnias, calendulas, and whatever else I find in my stash. ;-) *Once they move out I will start the squashes but they will be in 4 inch pots to start with since they don't transplant as well. *I put some of that tech foil on the benches of the greenhouse before putting in the flats to hopefully hold more heat. *I still have to get the north side covered with tech foil but we did do the bottom of the door after reparing it from the storm blowing it out last December.

The forsythia is out, the fragrant IndianPipe is out, and the hummingbirds are back - saw a beautiful orange one yesterday so have to get feeders out. *It's back to more rain tomorrow but you know what they say about spring showers. ;-)

[lostinthewoods]

Well I'm glad all of you are have "wonderful" spring like weather... :-[ Every time we think we may be turning the corner another cold front rolls in! 29 degrees again tonight, last night was 60 degrees at 11:00pm. GRRRRR!

Anyway, we have lots of baby plants now coming up. We hope that most of them survive as we are having a problem with quite a lot of them damping off. This picture was taken about a week and a half ago before the damping off started.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/lostinthewuds/IMGP1603.jpg

Right now we have about 5 different types of tomatoes (with seed for about 12 more varieties coming this week). I know what does anyone need with almost 20 different kinds of tomatoes? I'll let you know once I figure it out.. ;)

We also have about 5 different types of peppers growing now and about 7 more coming in may. The ones coming in May will be plants so we don't have to germinate those seeds.

We've got seed for about 12 different kinds of squash too. We don't start those indoors but we have to wait on the weather before we can get them in the ground. If everything goes as planned this summer, by fall we'll have some great seeds to share.

Just about everything in the yard is done that can be done in the wet and muck. We've been discussing "taking back" our apple trees for a few seasons now. They have been neglected for years now and a few years they were butchered by some "idiot" "trying" to prune. (there's not a smiley for kicking oneself in the butt, is there?) As of right now I have two trimmed up and still have three more to do. I figure we'll either have better apple trees for my efforts or some really nice smoking wood.. :-/

Before:
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/lostinthewuds/IMGP1628.jpg

After:
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/lostinthewuds/IMGP1634.jpg
As you can see I've opened them up and thinned this one out a lot. If anyone would like to critique my pruning I would love any help you can give.


lost

[bookwormom]

congrats Debbie on getting your fence done. We are planning on clearing for fencing along our drive way tomorrow and possibly set t posts, trying DM's method.
I am planting a lot less tomatoes this year, I would like one or two of a variety, I have five kinds started and agreed with my neighbor to share plants. Last year I canned to tomatoes like crazy, (waste not want not) and now I am stuck with dozens of jars and really do not use much of it. I am not used to cooking with much tomatoe, sweet hubby is not a fan of pasta, what I have will last me three years. I would like to raise more peppers and winter squash.
My lower garden looks like a prime spot for a garden, I am sure it was used to raise tobacco in the past. the winter wheat really shows how really bad the soil is. where I managed to put compost and mulch it is much greener and three times as tall. there is no use to plant agarden there and never get anything for my troubles. We decided to close it off, let the cows in and feed them their hay there next winter.
to my horror I noticed the raspberries were sending out little green leaves already and they were not thinned or pruned so seet to it tide away and hope I did not do more harm than good.
Location can make quite a difference in how and when to do things, I notice this old dog has to learn new tricks on a regular basis.
Lostinthewoods,I am trying to think what Luke, my good old neighbor who helped me trim my trees when we lived in Europe would do to the tree. I know he would still cut off quite a bit, mainly where branches are in each others way. I have had good success with garlic water to ward off damping off. chp garlic very fine, cover with water, let set overnight, strain and spray on the plants and the soil around them. My mom treated a fungus growing on my Dad"s face with this and it worked also. She figured if it works on plants, why not on humans.

[jen_in_southtexas]

Things on the homestead are looking pretty good. Last week I mowed a good bit of 4acres, the fence lines, and the frontage. I have to say that it looks really nice and cared for. I also mowed my neighbors frontage grass and behind the fence. I mowed it with the used riding mower i bought from a man. It works pretty good and starts everytime. I also manicured my trees and cut some nuisance Huisache trees down that didnt need to be there. There were stumps that i cut way down too with the chainsaw. Not much useful wood as these were small small trees. I kept adding on to the brushpile and i got sick of looking at it so at the end of all my lawn chores i put as much of that brushpile in the back of my truck and hauled it to the caliche pit in the back of the property to dry out so that when the burn ban lifts i can safely burn it.

I also broke down and let the electrical company come and stake down a route for electricity. After a hot hot spell about two weeks ago i was reminded of how dangerously hot it gets down here. Our temperatures at night dont exactly drop in the summer. We still have 80 and 90 something hot and HUMID windless nights that are unbearable from about April thru Nov. It will be a while yet till i get all that going.

There is still work to be done and I am far from finished. Well, does it ever finish? But the arthritis in my right middle finger has been real painful and over the counter meds dont help. I took a prescription pain pill but that just barely touched it. Today has been the best day since the day before it started to hurt. I am able to flex it and my grip is better. When i start to feel better its back to the yard.

I might be getting a used rabbit hutch from someone if they havent given it away yet. I hope i get it.

Other than that there really isnt much going on. The sun has been shining and the weather is holding nicely for now. I want to feel better so that i can go fishing too.

Until next time...may the sun shine bright upon your faces!!

-jen ;)

[bee_pipes]

Most of the day spent fixing the mower. We replaced the battery and starter coil with no effect. The battery was old and due to be changed, but the coil was unnecessary. Had eliminated just about everything and decided it was a “safety relay”. This relay is a black box that we could not test with a DVM, so made that assumption by default. The main drive belt was looking shabby too, so we ordered a replacement. I had just finished placing the order and decided it was time to reassemble the machine when something told me to ring out the rest of the wiring harness to be sure there weren’t any other problems with the wiring. Fortunately, we have a wiring diagram for the machine. A smarter feller than me would have done that first. The engine itself is simple, and will crank when the starter coil is shorted. But the entire machine – the riding mower – has a number of safety features: 1) The operator’s butt must be seated on the machine, 2) The clutch must be in neutral and 3) the power take off (PTO) must be disengaged. Each of these three conditions has a reed switch that must be closed for the ignition to reach the starter coil. I put a jumper on all three switches and the darned thing started. The problem was the clutch switch. It is in a spot that gets crusted with grass clippings and dust. Makes you feel pretty foolish to miss something like that, but it’s experience. Experience comes from doing something foolish before you know better. The worst part of the chore was disassembling the mower – taking off the mower deck and removing the console. Toro has the fiendish ability to put parts in difficult to reach locations, much like car manufacturers, requiring major tear-down to reach questionable locations. This reminds me why I didn’t become a mechanic back when I worked in the motor pool – not enough patience. There are a number of chores around here that require a mower; the ATV is too big. We have a trailer that sweeps up the yard and is good for collecting grass clippings and leaves for the garden and compost bin. The ATV moves too fast to do the job. We also have a little trailer that is handy for hauling loads into small, tight spaces like the garden. For now we’re going to leave the mower deck off and get these chores tended to.

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/5572/4ringingoutharnessvo7.jpg
mower torn down, ringing out wiring with DVM

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/4914/2safetyrelayzh3.jpg
safety relay - center, next to red cable

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/6993/5mowerreassembledwithouxc8.jpg
tractor reassembled without deck

Our friend and neighbor, Tony, gave us an old Montgomery Wards mower that we will restore and use as a small tractor for these jobs in the future. I feel a lot better about trying to restore this machine after working on our own. This will have the mower deck removed – the deck can serve as a hanger queen for spare parts and the tractor can be used in the future for these chores. I have wanted to build an arc welder with an auto alternator, and the 18 hp engine on this machine will do a fine job driving the alternator. It will also be mobile, so the welding can be performed anywhere on the property.

We got a third turkey egg today. The hen seems to have jumped into full production.

Regards,
Pat

[wy0mn]

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/wy0mn/032508004.jpgMarch for me has only begun!
After work yesterday I finally made it out to my remote Ranch. Looked like the road had been open for a couple of days, no more than 3-4 anyway.
So, give things a week or so to dry out, & I'll order my cabin kit and do something productive!

[DM]

These are from a couple days ago...

Anyway, i've been seeing quite a few wild turkeys here on my farm, and this morning they came close enough to get a few decent pictures...

You can tell it's spring, as look at how that "Tom" is acting around all those hens! ;)

http://www.fototime.com/0C505C47288B0B6/standard.jpg

They really like to come up by the house and pick things up to eat from around the ponds...

http://www.fototime.com/56885A41F68D63E/standard.jpg

In fact they really like to get right down into the cattails by the stream to find all kinds of things next to the water... Look how well they blend in...

http://www.fototime.com/7CBE6A3D86704A5/standard.jpg

Then they ran over and chased the wild mallards and geese into the smaller pond!

http://www.fototime.com/822D53DE7745AE9/standard.jpg

That's it for today... Hope you liked the picts...

DM 8)

[Deberosa]

Great pictures!! Thank you for posting them.

March is turning into another month that can't be over with too soon! Today it's rain, snow, ice pellets more rain. Drain field flooded again - it just never gets a chance to dry out, but at least it only lasts about 12 hours then back to normal. It may have always done that, not really sure!

The mother hen still has her 4 chicks - through all the horrible weather so she must be taking good care of them. I have several very nice dry nests for them but she is of course out in the brush - just outside the doorway to much dryer accomodations!

Was going to order 3 pigs this week but must hold off - have to travel the week of April 7th so many plans are on hold - moving cows to new brush area and pigs because I want to be here for the first week of the move. I have to travel to the BRONX - yuk yuk yuk. Guess I can't complain too much - money is good and only one trip since starting last July.

The tomatoe plants, basil plants and other greens are doing OK in the greenhouse with two heat lights but Sunday it's supposed to get down to 24 so I think I need to add another heater for that night. Will have to run more extension cords because it's blowing fuses on a single circuit. I got another round of seeds started in the house - a mix of lots of plants. More greens, okra, some cherry tomatoe plants, ziinias, cosmos, chard, chinese lanterns, a couple of kinds of head lettuce, 4 o-clocks, and whatever else I found around to round out 18 more dozen plants in 6-packs. I'll have 6 more six packs to plant once I transplant the basil that is outgrowing the indoor lights.

Now if only it would quit the nasty weather for a bit!

[bookwormom]

torrential rains are predicted for tomorrow. We are still soaked. I just dug a ditch along the back wall where the cistern is and water runs into the basement on a regular basis. It runs through the spot where the pipe comes into the building. We are thinking of digging below the entry spot and putting gravel and drain pipe in that section to drain excess water away. I am tired of vacuuming up big puddles of water in the basement all the time. Digging out this mud was hard work for this sixty year old body, but I am glad I was able to do it.
Seedlings need transplanting, the peaches and plums are on the verge of blooming. Sweet hubby put up more fencing yesterday, that ought to keep the goats from escaping and going over to the cemetary to graze.
today is a good day to start leafy vegetables, like cabbage, lettuce and the like. I started Basilikum, green and purple cabbage, lovage and also planted swiss chard. May it grow and thrive.

[humbug]

I woke to some snow this morning.. *:( and these critters eating my goat hay....I chased them away but they didn't run far...


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a271/nvhumbug/deer001.jpg


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a271/nvhumbug/deer002.jpg


Too bad it isn't deer season..these guys would be good eating.

[bookwormom]

It looks gorgeous humbug. picture post card pretty. .

[lostinthewoods]

Well, this weekend I tried to reclaim another apple tree but this one beat me fair and square. ;) I did however, get 6 cherry bushes, 5 goose berry bushes, 2 Manchurian apricot trees, and 2 Russian Mulberry trees planted this weekend. We need a bigger yard. We've still got 5 grape vines to plant, 50 strawberry plants, 10 asparagus roots, 10 Jerulesum artichokes.

I also started some more tomato plants. We'll have about 20 different types this year.


lost

[sbemt456]

Gosh ya'll been busy. Here in Kentucky it is still a little too wet to plant outside in the garden, but I have a bunch of seedlings started in the house, in the living room of all places. Good thing we have a den too.
I have tomatoes,, cabbage, celery, 3 kinds of squash, about 10 different herbs, the sweet potatoes are bedded out to start, garlic has a good head start,as does the horseradish.

I received my blueberry bushes from Michigan Bulb last week and it was too cool and wet for me to dig holes to set them outside so they got put in pots and look great. That order was a pleasant surprise, the prices were so low I thought the plants would'nt be good quality, but they were excellent, arrived in protective little 2" pots and the tops were in a shield to protect them from getting crushed in transit. I will order from them again.
Worked my hinney off Saturday finishing the chicken houses, cleaning and sanitizing and such, getting ready for the babies that will be here the week of April 14.
Today was warm, spent some time on the front porch and in the yard plotting my next project. Which will include a strawberry bed and work on my summer kitchen with the hubby.
Everyone have a great week!

stella

[Deberosa]

It was pretty cold and nasty here this weekend but got a few things done.

Broke down and got a pay as you go cell phone. Will only cost $3.00 a month over time and since I have to travel occasionally it will come in handy for emergencies.

Scored a great wood box and some garden tools at a yard sale - that season is starting! I moved and planted many more plants - the greenhouse is nearly full now with a complete new set under the grow lights in the house.

I did get the tiller attached to the tractor with Kurt's help. Still haven't gotten the hang of connecting the PTO at this point. Three days this week are supposed to be nice so I wanted to be able to quickly go out and till on the third day - so I can get the buckwheat cover crop in the ground.

I know the following week when I am gone will probably be wonderful around here. I am just hoping Daisy waits to calve until I get back.

[pinetreefarm]

Finally got the greenhouse up and running and plants are cozy and warm. Waited longer than usual this year since winter doesn't want to end and propane is out of sight. Planted impatiens, marigolds, coleus, and herbs...lots of herbs. Tomatoes, green peppers, colored peppers and so much more. Sometimes I get a bit carried away with seeds.

Now we are to get about 8 inches of snow! Hopefully it won't stay and moisture is moisture. But it sure makes for a long winter! Oh well, after I teach the morning classes, I think I will spin this afternoon and look out at the snow.

Pine

[bee_pipes]

3/30
Today turned out better than we had hoped. After watching dismal weather forecasts for a day of rain we got a break around 9 AM or so. About 10 AM we were beginning to think this was more than a momentary break and went outside to work in the garden. One bed, the one we want to plant carrots and other root crops in, needed tilling badly. We managed to get it tilled and spread a layer of compost on it, then covered it with old cardboard. We also tilled a new bed for onions and dressed it in the same manner. The ground is pretty wet, but as soon as things dry out enough we will collect the last of the leaves and other yard rubbish to top-dress the cardboard. While digging through the compost to fill the card and wheel-barrow we came across a few artifacts – some leg bones from cattle and deer and a skull and jaw from a pig. These were “special treasures” brought home to us by the dogs the previous years. The composting process has cleaned the bones off pretty well, now all they need is a good bleaching in the sun. We’ll be able to make our own little Lord of the Flies sign over the garden.

3/31
Today we finished emptying the compost bin. We definitely had a larger quantity than last year, it went much further. You can tell we weren’t in a hurry to get the job done – two days was just about right. We could have done it all in a day, but that would have made for a long and hard day, exhausting both of us. The weather could not have been better. We are both tired, but have gotten a nice dose of fresh air and sunshine. There will be no problem sleeping tonight.

While working in the garden, we let the turkeys out to graze. This is the first time they have been out since the dog attack a month or two ago. They are both well on the mend, many of the larger tail feathers growing back in on their tails. The male seems to have re-grown a lot of his primary flight feathers, but a large patch of pink skin above his tail has me wondering if he will completely fill back in. The pups were most interested to see the turkeys out, so we took the opportunity to scold them and reinforce their training. So far we have gotten 8 eggs from the hen and have seen the tom mounting her a number of times. We plan to start the incubator about the middle of May.

(Mozilla/Firefox users right-click View Image for larger picture)
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/5797/compostbinsis9.jpg
Last year's bin (left) topped off with litter from chickenhouse floor and will sit for a year to age. Center bin is sawdust and other cover material. Bin on right is current harvest. When we're done, it will be fired up with the other half of the chickenhouse litter.

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/237/compostspreadingyp0.jpg
Making a deposit to the soil bank - our savings account, as martin put it.

Regards,
Pat

[humbug]

I have been busy working on a chicken brooder coop. I will post some pictures when I get it done. The weather today was sunny but cool. It was 8 degrees when I got up this morning. I know spring is headed this way and I need to kick it up into high gear. My little checks are now two weeks old. They are starting to get wing and tail feathers. I have them in a kiddie pool with 18 inch sides but I am starting to worry that they will start jumping out so I have been on a big push to get the brooder coop done. I will start on a regular chicken coop at the end of the month. I am not sure my bred doe is actually going to have kids. She is due in April but does not seem to be showing. Shouldn't she? The breeder said she may not kid until the end of April, that would not be a bad thing as it will be warmer then. I got some blackberry bushes in the ground. My garlic is starting to come up. I don't see any sign of the asparagus yet though.

[DM]

In less then 1/2 hour, it will be April first here. So i thought i better hurry up and post this pict. of deer and turkeys that i took this morning. That way it will make it in the March forum where it belongs... ha ha ha

http://www.fototime.com/7E0ACBEF75E215F/orig.jpg

DM