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Saturday, June 6, 2020

My Chickens

I recently moved from Utah to Texas and moved my 12 chickens with me.  They are pairs of various breeds.

The recent world chaos opened my eyes to the need to have a rooster, so I have been free ranging my chickens with four neighborhood beautiful roosters which seem to be of good breeds, though I do not know the breeds.

An uncle told me four roosters for 12 chickens is way too many, so as of today, 6/6/2020, I will restrict rooster access of my chickens to only one rooster at a time.

Below I am listing the types of chickens I know I have.  There is a good yellow chicken breed as well, though I do not recall what it is, but they are all great layers.

I have never bred chickens before but I'm reasonably sure all the eggs are fertile.  So I purchased an incubator and have been hatching chicks.

My expertise in chicken breeding is in its infancy but my goal is to get as many chickens to as many neighbors as possible to help them be sustainable.

Having chickens has a myriad of benefits to reach that end.

Here is a list of the chickens I do know I have which have been breeding with good roosters since they got to Texas.

Ameraucanas - blue egg layers, often referred to as easter egg layers.



These beautiful birds lay blue-tinged eggs.




Brahamas - Gorgeous big birds.



Austrothorp




Leghorn




Here is a fun vid I took in Utah which shows some of the chickens we brought to Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvqgesnOJhY






Wednesday, January 8, 2020

DIY Composter CHEAP & SUPER EASY

Life's been crazy. I've begun four gardens in two states and four locations only to have to leave them because sh!t happens.  Maybe I'll elaborate some other time.  

For now I wanna share this composter I made - it's still not finished, and I didn't even clean it up for a nice thumbnail pic, but that's just me trying to get out of procrastination mode.  Besides, I think you'll get the idea.




You can view the youtube vid here.

There are few things better for gardens than homemade compost using your own food and garden scraps.

To make compost you need four things:


  1. Nitrogen (e.g., food scraps and green clippings or grass cuttings from your garden), 
  2. Carbon (e.g., dry leaves, wood chips, paper, cardboard), 
  3. Water, and 
  4. Air.


To keep bugs and critters away avoid dairy, bones, meats, and oils. 

The typical compost consists of food scraps like fruits and veggies, clean egg shells (just nuke them for a minute), and coffee grounds - including the filters.  I also add used paper towels that don't contain oils, dairy, or meats.  Sometimes, if I'm feeling motivated, I'll cut up and toss into the pile of food scraps the empty rolls of paper towels and toilet paper, and cardboard eggshell cartons.

As for my DIY composter, I found a source who sells these 55 gallon food-grade plastic barrels for $5 each.  So I'm loading up!!

I plan to cut two one-foot square chunks of plastic from the middle of the barrel and secure wire mesh over the openings using bolts. That should aerate the compost better without allowing bugs to enter.  Or hell, I might just drill a bunch of holes into it and be done.

In the vid I mentioned "free woodchips."  I'll address that in another post.  But if you have access to smaller carbon-type material, it will compost faster than wood chips. 

Dry hay comes to mind but unless you can get the compost really hot, the finished compost might contain weed seeds so when you put your finished compost into your garden you might end up sprouting weeds where you don't want them.  Hell, I recently got some pumpkins sprouting using a different composting method where I tossed a rotted jack-o'-lantern into a compost pile then spread it around.  But that's another story, I need to stay on track here.

Paper is another good source of carbon and if you can shred it first, the compost will finish faster.  Be sure to avoid plastic and glossy papers as they may not compost and may contain toxins.

Perhaps the best source of carbon is dry leaves which are typically plentiful in the fall.  I've heard if you put leaves out on your lawn, run your mower over them to shred them, and rake them up, it will help the compost be ready sooner.

Another method I plan to try out is putting dry leaves in a similar 55 gallon plastic barrel and use my weed eater to help shred them. 

The smaller the carbon source bits are, the faster the compost is finished.  Therefore, I bet a really great source of carbon would be sawdust.

If your compost starts to smell funky, add more carbon and shake it up so you don't get pockets of "stank."

Keep it watered just enough so that only one or two drops comes out when you grab a handful and squeeze it hard.  Be mindful of rain.  It might just rain enough to water your compost naturally but if it rains too much you might have some icky-looking "juice" run out of the barrel.  Whether you add your own water or wait for rain, be sure to shake it up so the water gets distributed.

There's a ton of composting info online and I encourage you to educate yourself using your favorite learning method - youtube/reading for visual learners like me, or podcasts for audio learners or people who get stuck in traffic.  Hopefully this short tutorial will inspire to compost and grow some plants.

Please share your own experiences with composting, suggestions for how to make my DIY more efficient, and offer links so we can all continue to learn.

Thanks for viewing.

TigerLily

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Plan to Plant - VERY EASILY!!


An extremely easy way to know when to sow your seeds

This blogpost is to show an easy, free way to schedule seed plantings using free internet sources.

These instructions were discussed in depth on One Yard Revolution’s Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG9QZE99poc

EASY STEPS:

a.       Enter your zip code.       
b.      Make note of your “last spring frost.”


a.       Download the file on from that link.
b.      Enter your “last spring frost.”

After entering that date, take note of the recommended schedule to plant seeds either indoors or outdoors without cover, or with single and double covers.

Here is a screenshot of that sight to  show you the key places were to select and enter data.



I will be selecting which seeds to start sowing and when based on this tool.

Good luck and please share this helped or not.


TigerLily

Monday, January 22, 2018

Home Sweet Home - but omg, what happened to this blog?

I've not been home for most of the last two years. And I won't be home for at least one more. So when I got here just a few days ago - for a short "vacation," I couldn't help but be amazed with the beauty of this place. The drive from Texas to Utah felt short as I listened to a couple of my favorite podcasters. Those recordings motivated me to get back on track with my blogging.



Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Relocating Grow Bags to Better-Suited Conditions

This article is a follow-up to another about a lovely coffee table that we recycled into a table-tray. We put that table-tray on our second-floor porch to hold plants in grow bags and grow bag planters.


Recycling a Coffee Table to Get Porch Produce

Being budget-conscious can bring out our creativity. This pretty but broken coffee table was headed to the landfill. But instead, it serves to hold future produce. And what's great is it cost pennies to transform.


Friday, May 20, 2016