Arizona Chickens

[DesertChic]

Geez! I may have to bring you my cuttings! haha!
Ya, I covered some things in plastic but the freeze got too low for that to help and now I'm cleaning some stuff up and have a small pile of half frozen green tomatos for the chickens to munch on. Hoping to get a green house up sooner or later so I don't have to worry about these things and have tomatos and green beans year round..

Yeah, we've been talking about building a green house too. I'd really love to build an indoor/outdoor pond for the Tilapia plus have rainwater harvesting AND use the fish water for all of the plants. It'll be a while before we can do that, though.

 

[Junochick]

Me too, I want a greenhouse. I collect rain water in buckets. I would love to have gutters connected to rain barrels. I haven't had a freeze yet but I know it coming. My girls are still laying and that makes me happy. Enjoy the weather now before it gets colder. We usually get just a minor amount of snow in a couple weeks.

 

[cactusrota]

Me too, I want a greenhouse. I collect rain water in buckets. I would love to have gutters connected to rain barrels. I haven't had a freeze yet but I know it coming. My girls are still laying and that makes me happy. Enjoy the weather now before it gets colder. We usually get just a minor amount of snow in a couple weeks.

Really? You haven't had a freeze in Globe? We just had two nights in a row that got down to 24 degrees! I had plastic over my tomatos but it wasn't enough for that low a temp, so they're all dead now...
I've got half-a$$ gutters on my birdie coops with barrels underneath, but once the rainy season is over I had been going through it too fast because for a while there we had our water off (we've been offgrid) so it was all I had for the birds and garden. But we got our water turned back on this fall. We were supplementing by getting water from the family farm well in a 320 gallon tote (the kind with a cage around it) in a trailer, but that water was so seriously salty it plugged up everything in just days. I don't think I could have had a garden at all this Fall if we hadn't have turned on the municipal water. We'll get our own well eventually...

 

[Bobby Basham]

Both the water and the soil out here tend to be very alkaline, making it much harder to grow things here. You might have better luck using rainwater to start your cuttings with. I also purchased a rooting stimulater, which helped a lot.

What is a rooting stimulator?

 

[Junochick]

Really? You haven't had a freeze in Globe? We just had two nights in a row that got down to 24 degrees! I had plastic over my tomatos but it wasn't enough for that low a temp, so they're all dead now...
I've got half-a$$ gutters on my birdie coops with barrels underneath, but once the rainy season is over I had been going through it too fast because for a while there we had our water off (we've been offgrid) so it was all I had for the birds and garden. But we got our water turned back on this fall. We were supplementing by getting water from the family farm well in a 320 gallon tote (the kind with a cage around it) in a trailer, but that water was so seriously salty it plugged up everything in just days. I don't think I could have had a garden at all this Fall if we hadn't have turned on the municipal water. We'll get our own well eventually...

So far the lowest temp has been high 30s my tomatoes and peppers are surviving. I also try to save gray water for my garden, bath tub nothing from the washing machine. I get city water ( commercial wells) I hope you get your well soon.

 

[Junochick]

I use a wood stove for most of my heat. I would love to go off grid like you are . My mother has solar panels $30,000 in California. I would never be able to afford that. Stay warm in fort Thomas

 

[cactusrota]

I use a wood stove for most of my heat. I would love to go off grid like you are . My mother has solar panels $30,000 in California. I would never be able to afford that. Stay warm in fort Thomas

We use propane for heat and cooking and try to minimize electricity usage. We only run like 8 solar panels that we got for a pretty good price and run an old diesel generator every few days to top off the battery bank which we've been slowly building up over time. Don't use the microwave unless the generator is running, I use a french press for my coffee, etc... We want to get a few more panels but it may be awhile. It can be done for cheaper if you shop around and build up your system slowly instead of buying it all at the same time.

 

[cactusrota]

What is a rooting stimulator?

Usually it's a bone meal or some similar formula. Sold in powder or liquid form that you dip the stem from a cutting into before placing in the growing medium. Often sold as rooting hormone.

 

[Salty Skroob]

Need some advice here. Next step for the bunker is fencing. I had planned on using some welded wire mesh. Similar to the attached photo.

 

[Salty Skroob]

(Continued) But I had also been wondering about hardware cloth. I’m sure that the wire mesh will keep the coyotes out. Question is, do I need hardware cloth sized stuff? I’m sure that the rats and snakes will find a way in anyhow and I’m not sure if the added expense will be worth it.

I’m working on ridding the area of rats and vermin through traps and poisons.