LovinLife- Happy New Year's all!

[savingdogs]

Maybe we should ask just in what ways would you like to learn self sufficiency? I should probably look at our categories of topics and make sure we cover the bases.

What natural products do you use or make?

What is your favorite thing you recycled?

What is your budget philosophy in a nutshell?

Do you use an alternative source for power?

 

[LovinLife]

We found a used Sequoia Woodstove for sale on CL for $100! DH said it weighs 600lbs so I'm hoping we will be able to load it up and bring it home today.

In other news....I got an A in my math class!! Better than that... I AM DONE with IT!! This Fall I will be taking Advanced Photography, Studio Lighting, and my health elective (Stress Management) . I'm so excited to be getting back into the photography studio. I think I will get a new lense, breaking the bank but I've sold a lot of stuff on ebay so I think I can afford it.

Today I hatched out an abandoed chicken egg (barnyard mix) and one of three abandonded guinea eggs. I'm hoping the other two guineas will hatch out. They are cracking the shell a little more every few hours. I'm so excited to have guinea keets, they are soooo cute. The nest started with 6 eggs but one by one they disappered so yesterday I noticed the guinea hen wasn't sitting on them anymore and they were starting to crack so I put them under a heat light with a towel. So far so good!

Yesterday I got my strawberry pyramid fixed. I side-swipped it with the lawnmower and torn the bottom ring a few weeks back. So yesterday I cut some 8' landscape timbers in half and made a hexagon as the bottom layer. It looks really good now!

I also bought a membership to the Arbor Day Foundation and ordered some apple trees and a weeping willow tree. I will also be getting a red maple and 10 flowering trees free!! Now if I can find some barbed wire to keep the deer from eating them...

Other updates: 4 scovy ducklings left out of 6 starting to get feathers, still have all 7 call ducks although I can't figure the sex of a couple of them, large male scovy (Elvis) has disppeared, large duck scovy sitting on a bunch of eggs due to hatch any day now, big snapping turtle still in pond even after our attempts at hooking him on a line and the front yard that DH plowed and plowed got the pitiful sunflowers and corn bushhogged down but I did manage to get a small wildflower area to grow.

I want to grow some winter wheat so I'm of to the easy garden forum to see when to plant and how to grow it.

 

[LovinLife]

One more guinea keet hatched...one more to go!

DH is finishing building the playset his mom got for the kids today.....think I will stay out of his way instead of trying to help...he's grumpy, would rather be fishing.

 

[savingdogs]

I joined the arbor day society as well......don't expect too much with the trees....they send you "starts" which are rally just suckers with roots. You CAN get them to grow into trees but it takes a lot of babying and several years. Of my "10 flowering trees" I have just one that made it to tree size.

I did order lilacs from them many years ago and received 8 rooted lilac suckers, but THOSE grew into a lovely hedge. Good luck!

 

[LovinLife]

How did you start your bare root trees out? Did you start them in the ground or in pots? I think I'm going to start them in pots.

Well, the last guinea died before it broke out of it's shell. So I now have two new guinea keets and one new chick.

 

[savingdogs]

I put them in the ground both times. I didn't use pots, except I must say, the one I have that survived this time is the ONE I put in a pot. So I think your instinct is good (wait until you see how small they are......).
When I planted the lilacs, I had just put down a rounded patio in my front yard in front of a pretty window that house had, I wanted to accentuate it. So we put a raised bed surrounding the rounded patio and I put lilac and tulips on the raised bed. It was sort of rounded around the shape of the patio. When that all came to bloom, it was stunning, it would stop traffic when it was in bloom. I've wanted to use that idea again at this house but have to tear out the current porch first, and now we might be bought out by the power company so why bother? Lilacs do really well in my climate however, maybe something else from them would work better in yours. They will send you things that don't "work" in your area. But my sticks I received were about a foot long only. I was able to keep those lilacs moist nicely through the hot weather on that raised bed and also the tree in the pot....I think that was the reason those survived.

 

[Farmfresh]

How did you start your bare root trees out? Did you start them in the ground or in pots? I think I'm going to start them in pots.

Well, the last guinea died before it broke out of it's shell. So I now have two new guinea keets and one new chick.

I have always soaked them in a bucket of water for about 24 hours and the planted direct in the soil. Make sure to water them frequently for the first month or so at least.

 

[TanksHill]

Congrats on the wood stove !!!
g

 

[Britesea]

No one warned me that my trees from Arbor Day would arrive in winter. I had not dug the holes in the fall, so there we were in a foot of snow trying to plant the darned things. Of the 10 they sent me, only the hawthorns have survived so far. (at least they were the ones I really wanted). Also, my hubby wasn't thrilled with all the "useless" trees they sent us-- he prefers to only grow plants that will provide either us or the wildlife with food. Maybe if we had more than 1/2 acre he would feel differently.

 

[LovinLife]

Thanks for the tips on the Arbor Day trees. I hope I can get them to grow and thrive. I'm willing to baby them and have plenty of room for "useless" trees . SD- I'll keep that in mind about the lilacs, thanks!

I'll post pics of the "new" wood stove tomorrow....she's a beauty!