SS cafe

[Lazy Gardener]

My flock "sleeps in" most mornings. Their people door freezes shut at the bottom. So, if I wait till things warm up a bit, I don't have to fight the door. While they are waiting for me, they busy themselves churning up the DL, looking for some goodies.

 

[Mini Horses]

So @baymule -- you have me thinking with your garden & weeds and barrier stuff. Have you considered....mulch/leaves, covered with plastic to solarize the area? You know, the things that annually sprout from seeds will "mostly" start & die with till but, it's those heavy, deep rooted rascals that haunt you! Plow now & turn animals on it. Plow again and add stuff, plow again and plant. Geesh, a lot of plowing!

I should be worrying about my own. LOL A big ole buck is fertilizing now. Some bedding being spread around. Chickens are helping to eat anything he misses, scratching up stuff, too. Mine isn't as large as yours!!

 

[baymule]

We are going to spread sheep barn clean out and chicken coop clean out, then till it in. Plan on tilling several times until early spring. Then we’ll roll out weed cloth over probably 2/3 of the garden, cardboard over the rest. We’ll see how it goes.

 

[Mini Horses]

There ya go! I'm using goat and chicken clean outs. LOL Soon as I get to that job or two....after Christmas anyway. I'm, pretty much home 5 days out of the week for a month or so. Lot of tilling and plowing. I have some lime to work onto a lot of fields while I'm off, too.

AND....while your lambing is over, my kidding isn't yet started but, soon. It will drag out this year because of this damned Houdini buck. BOOO.... I'm working out the kidding pen plans now...barn stalls. Clean out the stuff stored in there and "where'd it come from?"

 

[Lazy Gardener]

An other good weed management option that is underutilized: Flame weeding. If I had a longer season, that would be my go to approach. If I tilled, I'd prep the seed beds, then let them rest till those little weeds made a good cover. Flame it, wait an other week or two, rinse and repeat. Every time you till, you are exposing a new crop of weeds. Other option would be to cover with clear plastic for a few weeks to solarize the soil. That will steam out the weeds on the surface. When planting, disturb the soil minimally.

I used the flamer when treating the cedar framework for my raised beds. Pretty efficient tool to scorch a lot of material very quickly.

 

[NH Homesteader]

@Mini Horses how many does will you have kidding?

 

[Hinotori]

The chickens have grown gills and the cats have flippers.

There has been about 5 inches of rain over the last 3 days.

Luckily no pen is flooded.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

SHOCKED! @Hinotori has GMO animals!

 

[Hinotori]

It's mutations caused by radiation!

Well actually I'm not near a nuke power plant where I am unlike where I grew up. Hmmm.

I know. It's volcanic radiation! Caused by that big thing out my window disguised as a mountain.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Good morning! Coffee's ready...it may be a Christmas cookie baking day