Lazy Gardener's Little Town Farm

[Lazy Gardener]

Got some more weeding done, planted some marigold, zinnia, basil, a few more pepper and eggplant. May tuck in one more sweet potato. Garden is looking real fine. Startled a baby garter snake, pulled a tick off my hand and drowned him. He's in good company, at the bottom of a can of soapy water with lots of potato bug eggs, with a nice accompaniment of floating potato bugs. I am cautiously thinking that mulching the potatoes with coarse hay cuts down on the PB infestation. Potted up a couple tomato plants for my MIL.

sugar snaps are blooming.

Garlic is setting scapes. The garlic leaves are 36" tall. I'm thinking there will be some massive heads of garlic this year. Time to start some seedlings to go in the garlic bed. Perhaps beets, kale, cabbage and broccoli.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Today, Hubby helped/supervised while I did the Shou Sugi Ban treatment on the cedar and yellow pine for raised bed frame work. No explosions today! I did not feel comfortable lighting that torch, so he stood by to provide an extra set of hands, douse the flames when they got too aggressive. Every time we re-started the torch, he'd man the controls while I did the fire starter. I was impressed with the final look of the cedar. Yellow pine didn't take the flame quite as well b/c of the variation in the grain. Then, I took an old steel brush, and brushed the char off the wood. Tomorrow, I hope to wipe the rest of the ash off, then give everything a coat of stain. Then... put the frames together, dig and level the area, set frames, and back fill. A LOT of work. But, it's my hope that the end result will provide a garden that is much easier to maintain.

Cooked a turkey with lots of veggies, made an apple crisp for supper.

Chickens continue to work over the garden. They are showing me that there are a LOT of potatoes left to be dug. I think this is my best potato season ever.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Today, Hubby and I got a load of finished compost from the transfer station. It needs to be sifted, but it's black gold! Need to go back later to get some pine needles and dry leaves for the chicken coop. There is also some nice wood chips just begging to come home with me. Next week will be my prime week to go pick up leaves from a near by town for winter coop/run litter.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Today, hubby and I went to the transfer station to get dry leaves for chicken coop and garden. I spent 3 hours out puttering around in the rain. Planted a rhubarb in the HK mound, pulled a mountain of weeds, came in chilled to the bone, covered in mud, totally happy camper!!!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Today, it was warm enough to work outside without a jacket. Finally, every last stick of firewood has been stacked. Dog caught and ate 2 mice as I was stacking wood. I have a pretty strong stomach. I don't think there is anything more gross than watching a dog shred and eat a mouse.

Pulled a 2" deep cap of frost off one corner of a garden bed to tuck in some garlic cloves that appeared intact after multiple freeze/thaw cycles when they got left laying on the ground. It will be interesting to see if they survive and produce a crop!

2 days of net surfing and phone calls have finally resulted in me finding a source for feed grade whole barley. Hubby picked it up tonight. So, I'll be able to start sprouting for the chickens. Last year, I sprouted in qt mason jars. This year, I think I'll try sprouting in seedling flats.

Seed catalogs arriving! Fedco came today.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

And, so it begins. Winter 2019. 3+ hours of snow blowing and shoveling to clear paths to animals shovel steps, etc. etc. etc. Who needs a gym membership? This old lady is pooped.

 

[Mini Horses]

My goal is to be able to sell enough eggs to pay for my chicken feed

Same here but, as customers told friends, the demand grew. In good season, they pay for their feed plus. It pretty much takes cares of the slow winter egg months. This year I was able to get some very nice pullets to "replace" the older layer slackening and the broody hens on nests. I expect 5 or 6 broody this Spring. I am watching for fertile eggs to expand my bloodlines this year. I'd prefer local eggs but --- depends on what's out there.

I've never used lights on the hens. Generally I try to have new layer starts in Oct-Dec and they generally carry thru winter at a decent rate. These I got a few months back are REALLY good.

I may throw a roo in with them for just the eggs to hatch.. They are great layers, large brown eggs, excellent foragers. Aver 7 eggs a day, so only 3-4 days will fill a nest or two, once the broodies commit.

I still plan to retire!!! So, I need the customer base & chickens are less demanding than many animals. I could make a few bucks to help out. Plus, I love to collect eggs.

 

[Beekissed]

Could be the breed(s) you had, Bay. Every time we've had ducks it's been a positive experience. Quiet, industrious, no issues with the chickens or each other.

My current ducks~Indian Runners~ return to the coop each night and sleep in the bedding beneath and to one side of the roosts. They are habitual, so once you train them to a certain area, it's easy to get them to return there at a certain time each day. The male is quite mild, not overbreeding the females and quite attentive to them and they flock separately to the chickens, though they join them at feeding time.

They do like to rinse their beaks in every bucket, pan and drinker they encounter, so they can mess up a lot of drinking water for the rest of the animals. I'd love to have them their own pond or water feature that could be for duck use only, as I feel they are most healthy when kept where they can bathe frequently...they like to breed in the water, eat in the water and even sleep in the water, so it would be nice to have the right kind of water they could enjoy.

They were wonderful in the garden this past season, cleaning up the millions of squash bugs I've had for the past few years now and so they will be living in and out of the garden this year as well, on an as needed basis. They forage MUCH better than my chickens, don't get into things they aren't supposed to like the chickens do~never found them on the porches, tearing up the flower beds, flying into the garden when they are not wanted there, nor stealing the cat's food yet, and they are quiet. They also seem very intelligent, wary of aerial predators and are graceful and amusing to watch.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

A friend on an other forum posted this: I thought it worthy of passing on!

What is a farmer?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

49* here today. Loving this unexpected heat. We dragged some lawn chairs out from under the deck. Between doing little piddly yard/chores, and sitting in the sun for a few minutes, we're absolutely enjoying this day. I trimmed all the dead branches off an arborvitae by the front corner of the house. Plan to cut it off at about 3' high, and turn the stump into a stand for a bird bath. It's close to the hose spiggot, so will be convenient.

Spread some stove ash in the snow blowed path ways to help melt the snow pack.

We're picking away at the years of accumulated stuff in the basement and shop, organizing a bit here and there. feels good to find some bare floor!


Birds are laying 6 - 8 eggs per day.