Farm, Garden, Ranch and Homestead : Makers au Naturel
- Thread starter SunnyD
- Start date
@SunnyD I hope all goes well in the new season!
Reading back a bit and getting nostalgic about living with chooks... never had any of my own but I lived on a property for a while where the owner would let hers roam around and peck... it's quite amazing how rapidly we humans are able to attach human-like traits/personalities to these creatures, and call them our friends. I know I did.
The bloke next door has a nice litle chook run/henhouse up the back, I enjoy going up and saying hello to them through the fence.
One thing I've learned: we have a common spreading/nodular type weed here in Sydney, common name of "wandering jew", (not sure of the scientific name, that's what my Dad called it when I was growing up). Turns out that the chooks love picking through/eating it (due to the high water content I guess?), so old mate has given me the go-ahead to just chuck it all over the fence into the chook pen when I'm in cleanup mode.
edit: Tradescantia fluminensis https://weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/Weeds/Trad
Reading back a bit and getting nostalgic about living with chooks... never had any of my own but I lived on a property for a while where the owner would let hers roam around and peck... it's quite amazing how rapidly we humans are able to attach human-like traits/personalities to these creatures, and call them our friends. I know I did.
The bloke next door has a nice litle chook run/henhouse up the back, I enjoy going up and saying hello to them through the fence.
One thing I've learned: we have a common spreading/nodular type weed here in Sydney, common name of "wandering jew", (not sure of the scientific name, that's what my Dad called it when I was growing up). Turns out that the chooks love picking through/eating it (due to the high water content I guess?), so old mate has given me the go-ahead to just chuck it all over the fence into the chook pen when I'm in cleanup mode.
edit: Tradescantia fluminensis https://weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/Weeds/Trad
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For animals that aren't "seasonal" breeders, how do you control the time of birth?
I know people that farm for a living often prefer to have livestock born very early in the spring (borderline late winter), which makes for more issues with temperatures. It's easy to control with chickens (just take the eggs), but you can't really do that with a mammal.
Keeping the bull/ram/boar/billy away from all the other animals seems like a pain, especially for hobbyists.
For animals that aren't "seasonal" breeders, how do you control the time of birth?
I know people that farm for a living often prefer to have livestock born very early in the spring (borderline late winter), which makes for more issues with temperatures. It's easy to control with chickens (just take the eggs), but you can't really do that with a mammal.
Keeping the bull/ram/boar/billy away from all the other animals seems like a pain, especially for hobbyists.
As The Offspring so famously said - "Ya gotta keep 'em separated!"
Basically separate pastures/pens and you only introduce the males when you're ready to. A lot of little homesteads keep their herds/packs/flocks/etc. together year round, but then you have reproduction year round. While that's not necessarily a bad thing for a small, off-grid homestead that is stocking their freezer/selling excess, unless you have the time to do it you can get overrun really quickly with young livestock leading to unhealthy conditions, inbreeding and likely aggressive animal behavior as they start competing for resources as they would in the wild.
Males typically get the short end of the stick in this regard. Smaller pens, smaller pasture areas, etc. In my (limited) experience though it's not that hard to do. The worst part is the physical effort and materials typically needed to set up areas to keep the animals separated. I'll admit, my accommodations aren't the greatest as clear land on the side of a mountain is a bit at a premium on our property, and I work a full time job outside the house. But we do what we do and manage.
And as far as the chickens go it's even easier than just taking the eggs - just eat/get rid of roosters. Hens will lay regardless of whether a roo is around or not. Haven't had a rooster for our flock at all since we moved and we're swimming in eggs. You just need a roo if you want to perpetuate the population.
I guess that argues that you might be better served with AI or a stud service instead of keeping a male in an enclosed area. That argument would work for me, anyway. I would feel bad keeping an animal cooped up like that. It's not really "natural" in the sense that the males aren't doing what males are supposed to do...protecting their mates and offspring.
See above....I like having the rooster around to serve his natural role...protector, scout, etc. Keeping them separated or getting rid of the males entirely goes against that.
Point taken on the "strategic" sense of it though.
AI is expensive, invasive and has a far lower success rate for most animals than having a natural stud. That said, stud service is valid, but then you compromise your own biosecurity by transporting animals. For small players like myself, having a male on-site is far more economical, and I can give it better individualized attention to make it's life better than larger/industrial settings would.
Very true. We have enough going on at our place that a rooster's services aren't needed, so it's calculated on our part. And not all roosters are jerks either. We just have no use for them.
It can take quite the effort, but it's the only way if you're actually going to keep male breeders. But for most animals, for hobby farmers, the bigger issue is that you probably don't want to keep a bull or ram around, eating and doing you no good, just to service a couple of females once a year. Lotta animals get moved around from farm to farm to earn their keep on a larger herd / flock over the course of a season.
But, if you do keep one, it can be enormously challenging. Boys can smell girls in season, and will move, crash through, or leap anything they can possibly penetrate to get to one. Manageable with reasonable fencing for a ram, even in fairly close quarters. Much tougher with a boar (which can easily go 1000 incredibly powerful pounds). Bulls ... best left to the professionals, if you can. They are very difficult to contain if at all near potentially mateable females. How hard? Two stories from my past: We had Charolais bull we called "old yeller" because of his coat color. Tipped the scales at about 2200 lbs. Mountain of muscle. One day he's in the holding pen with 5 other bulls, prior to the date when we let the bulls out into pasture with the cows. A "little" Red Angus bull that's not yet ful grown (maybe 1500 lbs or so) picks a fight with yeller. They go shoulder to shoulder, necks crossed, and yeller starts pushing the little red angus back ... and back ... and back into the fence. Red angus butt goes up against a fence made of 2 X 12s on railroad tie posts, right at a post. Yeller keeps pushing, and pushes the red angus bull through the fence, breaking the railroad tie (obviously not a great one) and five 2 X 12s, tumbling the little guy over into the adjacent hog yard. That fall, after breeding season was over, yeller decided he'd had enough of his cows, and escaped the pasture, so we go out to round him up. I've got him in a ditch, with me on horseback behind him, and Dad on the road in a pickup, moving toward home, and jumps the fence adjacent to the ditch into the neighbors pasture - that is, starting from 2 or more feet below the bottom wire of the fence, all 2000 lbs of him (breeding 50 cows in a two bull pasture causes a bull to lose weight, even on good pasture) cleared the fence, and galloped off to start work on the neighbors cows.
And here is this little pistol in all of her glory. Apologies for the watermark, this pic is from my facebook post - there's a ton of scammers out there trying to pass off animals as their own in the groups where people "advertise" them for sale.
Her personality is a polar opposite of her brother's. Hopefully that will change at weaning, otherwise trying to sell her is going to be rough.
In other news, I'm fairly certain that none of the eggs my geese laid are going to hatch. We're about a week past where I expected to see goslings, and Shirley is now starting to spend more time off the nest so I'm pretty sure she's going to give up soon too. I candled about five eggs this morning and three definitely had no development at all. The other two were dark, which either means they're going to hatch soon or they're bad - can't be sure which because I was using my phone flashlight as the candling source, so not that great in terms of resolution. I'll be a little disappointed because even with a 20-30% hatch rate the 20 or so eggs in there should give me at least one, right?
Her personality is a polar opposite of her brother's. Hopefully that will change at weaning, otherwise trying to sell her is going to be rough.
In other news, I'm fairly certain that none of the eggs my geese laid are going to hatch. We're about a week past where I expected to see goslings, and Shirley is now starting to spend more time off the nest so I'm pretty sure she's going to give up soon too. I candled about five eggs this morning and three definitely had no development at all. The other two were dark, which either means they're going to hatch soon or they're bad - can't be sure which because I was using my phone flashlight as the candling source, so not that great in terms of resolution. I'll be a little disappointed because even with a 20-30% hatch rate the 20 or so eggs in there should give me at least one, right?
Well that was a weekend. I had started working on changing over the “irrigation system” the previous owners of our land had built, which was just a bunch of 1/2” tubing run all over the place. I had run over it multiple times while mowing and finally got fed up enough to look into a real system to feed our orchard, raised beds, in ground garden and a few yard hydrants both for fire safety and just general access.
With summer coming we couldn’t put off actually doing the new irrigation system, as we planted 35 trees and they needed water before summer hits and we stop getting rain.
But, last month I had a pulmonary embolism which paused every project I had on my plate. Obviously the priority was health, but I had already started the project and we didn’t want our trees to die.
Thankfully my wife’s family jumped in to help, my sister in law, her husband and parents all came over to trench and get the bones of the system in. I rented a trencher locally for not too much and had purchased 600’ of 1” pipe plus fittings, valves etc. The first day went slow, I had laid out a general plan of trenching but my brother in laws father (owns a construction company) was a perfectionist on the layout so that took some time. Once they got going things went pretty smoothly over the next two days of trenching. My wife basically handcuffed me to a chair because I can’t help myself from jumping in to help.
Today my wife and I made all the connections for the mainline 1” pipe, got all the valves connected and put into valve boxes. We installed 4 yard hydrants and 4 valve boxes with 15 zones. Finally we decided to go for broke and connected our mainline up to our irrigation meter. We have a few small leaks in our valve manifolds but otherwise are in good shape.
Still a ton of work left. I have to get all the low voltage wiring layer out, hooked up to the valves and the controller. We also have to hook up all the drip irrigation for our trees, plus get lines run to our raised beds, inground bed and orchard. Plus of course filling in all the trenching after the wire gets laid and I get all the leaks closed up.
This has been a huge project for us, and getting to the point of having our main water connection made with just small leaks has us on cloud nine. Doing this while not trying to over exert myself so I don’t cause any issues with my PE has been an added challenge.
Looking forward to this being done and moving onto a new project.
With summer coming we couldn’t put off actually doing the new irrigation system, as we planted 35 trees and they needed water before summer hits and we stop getting rain.
But, last month I had a pulmonary embolism which paused every project I had on my plate. Obviously the priority was health, but I had already started the project and we didn’t want our trees to die.
Thankfully my wife’s family jumped in to help, my sister in law, her husband and parents all came over to trench and get the bones of the system in. I rented a trencher locally for not too much and had purchased 600’ of 1” pipe plus fittings, valves etc. The first day went slow, I had laid out a general plan of trenching but my brother in laws father (owns a construction company) was a perfectionist on the layout so that took some time. Once they got going things went pretty smoothly over the next two days of trenching. My wife basically handcuffed me to a chair because I can’t help myself from jumping in to help.
Today my wife and I made all the connections for the mainline 1” pipe, got all the valves connected and put into valve boxes. We installed 4 yard hydrants and 4 valve boxes with 15 zones. Finally we decided to go for broke and connected our mainline up to our irrigation meter. We have a few small leaks in our valve manifolds but otherwise are in good shape.
Still a ton of work left. I have to get all the low voltage wiring layer out, hooked up to the valves and the controller. We also have to hook up all the drip irrigation for our trees, plus get lines run to our raised beds, inground bed and orchard. Plus of course filling in all the trenching after the wire gets laid and I get all the leaks closed up.
This has been a huge project for us, and getting to the point of having our main water connection made with just small leaks has us on cloud nine. Doing this while not trying to over exert myself so I don’t cause any issues with my PE has been an added challenge.
Looking forward to this being done and moving onto a new project.
That sounds like a serious project. Since you mentioned orchard, I assume these 35 trees are fruit trees of some sort? Perhaps nuts? If so, I am guessing you must sell the produce...there's no way anyone (even extended family) could keep up with that many trees.
My project this past weekend was preparing a new garden bed. It's roughly 16' x 24' in size, but has one corner cut off at an odd angle where our lawn (which is aligned with the house) meets up with the garden area (which is aligned with the compass). I mowed the grass down to an inch, buried some old rotten firewood randomly throughout the bed (because....organic matter), hauled and spread about 1.5 cubic yards of horse manure, then covered the whole thing in tarp to kill the grass and "solarize" the bed to kill off weed seeds and so on. I'll let that cook a while over the summer. At some point, I'll peel back the tarps and maybe plant oats or something that will winter-kill and mow it all down later to have it all ready for next spring.
It was plenty of work, but I actually finished early yesterday morning and was wondering what to do with my day. It's been a while since there wasn't something that needed doing in the garden. Kind of a nice feeling.
My project this past weekend was preparing a new garden bed. It's roughly 16' x 24' in size, but has one corner cut off at an odd angle where our lawn (which is aligned with the house) meets up with the garden area (which is aligned with the compass). I mowed the grass down to an inch, buried some old rotten firewood randomly throughout the bed (because....organic matter), hauled and spread about 1.5 cubic yards of horse manure, then covered the whole thing in tarp to kill the grass and "solarize" the bed to kill off weed seeds and so on. I'll let that cook a while over the summer. At some point, I'll peel back the tarps and maybe plant oats or something that will winter-kill and mow it all down later to have it all ready for next spring.
It was plenty of work, but I actually finished early yesterday morning and was wondering what to do with my day. It's been a while since there wasn't something that needed doing in the garden. Kind of a nice feeling.
No these are along a property line for privacy and as a wind break. Our orchard is small currently, but once we get this system up and running one of our next projects is to ~double the orchards size.That sounds like a serious project. Since you mentioned orchard, I assume these 35 trees are fruit trees of some sort? Perhaps nuts? If so, I am guessing you must sell the produce...there's no way anyone (even extended family) could keep up with that many trees.
Get some heritage cider apples and a cider press. Easy to make, it'll just start to ferment on its own. Might need more than the traditional home setup though, if you actually have more than a tree or two. You'll have a few years to buy and learn how best, once you get the small trees in.
Or you could sell the fresh juice to others locally through a home brew supply store or something.
Working on rebuilding the live fence I put up last year around the garden.
Turns out over the winter the ice heaved up the cedar posts I put in, which since last year was so wet caused the logs to settle and posts to flair out. So I'm going through, resetting the posts deeper, restacking logs and adding braces to the posts to keep the settling from putting too much pressure on them.
All in all though, liking how it's turning out. Again.
Turns out over the winter the ice heaved up the cedar posts I put in, which since last year was so wet caused the logs to settle and posts to flair out. So I'm going through, resetting the posts deeper, restacking logs and adding braces to the posts to keep the settling from putting too much pressure on them.
All in all though, liking how it's turning out. Again.
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Perhaps a semantic thing, but I thought live fence was basically a hedge made from your preferred type of greenery (osage orange, for example) maintained in an appropriate way.
This seems more like wattle?
This seems more like wattle?
MHSJenkins
Seniorius Lurkius
I live in a small city in the southeastern US, and I grow most of my own produce, grow and make herbal medicines, collect rainwater for the garden, and try to provide safe spaces on my lot for the local wildlife. I'd like to add bees but I have neighbors who are a bit too close.
Any other herbalists out there? Message me!
Any other herbalists out there? Message me!
Ooooo! I caught us a pretty serious lurker!
Seriously though, as far as the bees go, I'd inquire with the neighbors to see what their thoughts are. You may have a few folks who would appreciate it, especially if you pay a jar-of-honey-tax here and there.
Things are getting kind of busy again... it's garden time! We've been picking strawberries, which amazingly survived the winter, and garlic scapes. 
Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with them yet. If I have enough I might make a small batch of pickled scapes for my daughter. I'm literally watching the garden stuff grow now and haven't been this excited in ages!
In other news, one out of my two pig gilts appear to have been successfully bred. Getrude's belly is getting bigger daily now, so should be within the next couple weeks I think. This is kind of exciting because of all of the issues we had and the fact that she's about 4 years old now. Why is this an issue? Every year after the first year that they don't breed increases the likeliness of things like endometriosis and whatnot meaning it's a lot harder to successfully breed them. Thanks to a bunch of factors including the breeder we got our pigs from not doing what they were supposed to do with the boys, it pushed us off this far from even trying. The proof is in the pudding - Gertie is pregnant, Peppa isn't, and she was bred twice!
Hope y'all are enjoying your summer (or winter if you're in the southern hemisphere).
Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with them yet. If I have enough I might make a small batch of pickled scapes for my daughter. I'm literally watching the garden stuff grow now and haven't been this excited in ages!
In other news, one out of my two pig gilts appear to have been successfully bred. Getrude's belly is getting bigger daily now, so should be within the next couple weeks I think. This is kind of exciting because of all of the issues we had and the fact that she's about 4 years old now. Why is this an issue? Every year after the first year that they don't breed increases the likeliness of things like endometriosis and whatnot meaning it's a lot harder to successfully breed them. Thanks to a bunch of factors including the breeder we got our pigs from not doing what they were supposed to do with the boys, it pushed us off this far from even trying. The proof is in the pudding - Gertie is pregnant, Peppa isn't, and she was bred twice!
Hope y'all are enjoying your summer (or winter if you're in the southern hemisphere).
Garlic scapes are nice when sauteed, maybe over eggs or a pasta dish.
Gearing up to make a bunch of Blenheim apricot jam, now that they are in season. I bought extras this year, so branched out into making some roasted apricot semi-freddo (delish, BTW). And of course, there is much snacking of fresh fruit along the way. "Oh dear, that one looks bruised; guess I have to eat it now."
Gearing up to make a bunch of Blenheim apricot jam, now that they are in season. I bought extras this year, so branched out into making some roasted apricot semi-freddo (delish, BTW). And of course, there is much snacking of fresh fruit along the way. "Oh dear, that one looks bruised; guess I have to eat it now."
You can cut them up and put in an ice cube tray with olive oil and freeze. Want to sauté something just take out a cube and throw it in with everything else.Garlic scapes are nice when sauteed, maybe over eggs or a pasta dish.
Gearing up to make a bunch of Blenheim apricot jam, now that they are in season. I bought extras this year, so branched out into making some roasted apricot semi-freddo (delish, BTW). And of course, there is much snacking of fresh fruit along the way. "Oh dear, that one looks bruised; guess I have to eat it now."
Anybody a botanist. I sure could use some help understanding why my tomato plants are ignoring the heat and still setting fruit. normally when our temps start to warm to the mid 80's and above the flowers start to drop off and they do not set anymore fruit. Not this year as with official temps as high as 109 but 112 or above where I live they are flowering and setting fruit. It boggles the mind and I want to know if it's something I'm doing or it's the plants genetics. Temp wise I won't see 85 degree or lower days until sometime in October if I'm lucky. Any help is welcomed
My wife did the olive oil thing with the first batch. She is, unfortunately, out of town this week so I'm on my own with all things garden.
Are they the same varieties as you've gotten before? Are you fertilizing them different? Shading them different?
My heirlooms love the heat, into the 90s at least, so long as I give them enough water.
As for chilies I just wait till August when the Hatch Chili is harvested and put up 120 pounds of roasted Chile in the freezer. Keeps me in Chile for the year. Yea I eat about 10 pounds of chili a month if not more. It is a side effect of being stationed in New Mexico for years. I developed an addiction to Hatch Chili. I wonder if I can claim a service connected disability with the VA. It is not like this hillbilly would have ever come into contact with chili or Mexican cuisine if I hadn't been stationed out here.@Carhole is the chile growing and processing master, but they have been dealing with serious health problems and backed off Ars postings. Anyway, they've posted a lot about it - and search mostly works these days
Me, I have a chile pequin which is perennial here and sometimes grow serranos. I like refrigerator pickling the serranos, the pequins usually get thrown whole into a taco or something. This past fall I dried some of the pequins and pickled some of the pequins.
Hoping to get a good fig crop this year. Summer 2020 was a huge crop (preserved, sliced and dried) - but we had nasty freezes 2 years in a row. This past winter has been the first mild one in awhile.
Some folks might consider this a feature, not a bug.
I would say as long as you can stay ahead of their water demands, I would want a tomato plant that sets fruit at any temp.
Also, if you don't expect a tomato plant to fruit in the weather you are having, why are you growing it in the first place?