Consolidated Kansas

[lizzyGSR]

On the trees - My husband and I just bought a house and moved to the country this winter (November). The house came with a well-established wind break that surrounds the yard with a gap for the plumbing on the East side. I have to say that I love the shade the trees provide in the yard, but it greatly reduces the options I have for planting other trees (too much shade - who would've thought!!). We do have some pasture with the house, but it is very long and narrow and most of it is off limits for planting trees because of the distance from a water source. However, we chose a corner of the yard that gets less shade than the rest and planted a cherry tree, a peach tree, and a blackberry bush. I am so excited and looking forward to fruit in a couple of years! Also, we discovered that we've got some currant bushes growing in the fence line in our pasture. I plan to dig a bush or two up and bring them closer to the house! In the future, I would love to get another cherry tree, another peach tree, and maybe some other trees. Oh, and we've got a whole row of mulberry trees in the wind break. It will be a lot of work to pick them thanks to the height of the trees (probably 30 feet tall), but I am already looking forward to all of the things I can do with a plethora of mulberries!

All of the chick/duck pictures are adorable! Thanks for sharing, everyone!

I started off the day this morning by putting my ducks out in their temporary pen, like I always do. I put the first one out and then went to get the second one. I headed for the door with the 2nd duck in my hands, only to discover the first duck running across the yard toward the house! I don't doubt that our dog would not hesitate to kill a duck given the chance, so I hurriedly set the 2nd duck down and ran outside to save the first one, just as the dog noticed that a duck was loose. I called the dog off and cornered the loose duck and put it back in the pen. Apparently, I hadn't fastened the "gate" well enough and the duck just walked right through it and proceeded to go looking for his/her "friend". Both ducks are safely in their outside pen now. What a way to start the day!

 

[sunshinegirl620]

Just wondering where I get those aprons for roo pecked backs...
TIA!

 

[chickmama1662]

lizzyGSR, regardnig the mulberries, I read somewhere that you can put a tarp down under the tree to catch the fruit when it falls. Then you just pick what you want off the tarp. Much safer than climbing a ladder up the tree! Our mulberries are already falling, I showed them to the hens and was surprised when they didn't show any interest at all.

 

[lizzyGSR]

lizzyGSR, regardnig the mulberries, I read somewhere that you can put a tarp down under the tree to catch the fruit when it falls. Then you just pick what you want off the tarp. Much safer than climbing a ladder up the tree! Our mulberries are already falling, I showed them to the hens and was surprised when they didn't show any interest at all.

I never thought about putting a tarp under the tree and letting the fruit fall all by itself. If the fruit is falling by itself, doesn't that mean that the fruit is overly ripe? I've always heard of people putting an old sheet underneath the tree and then shaking the tree. However, our trees are too tall to do even that (can't reach the branches to shake them). Thanks for the suggestion! We've been finding small mulberry trees all over the yard. Judging by how far the seedlings are from the tree, something tells me we're going to have a mulberry mess once the mulberries do start to ripen.

I'm in Western KS. We're at least 2 weeks behind Central KS as far as seasons go. I haven't planted a garden yet because we could still have a freeze and because I've been too busy...

 

[Trish44]

Danz, I don't know if you're on SS Disability or not, but if you are you get on Medicare automatically, at least part A, the free part. I have no idea why they would force you to sign up for anything else, I would get some advice from someone on that. I have the free one too, but it isn't primary over my other insurance. I'm covered on my DH's insurance from his job, so I elected not to pay for Medicare part B or any of the others. Our insurance sucks this year though, they changed the plan at the first of the year & now we have a huge out of pocket expense before they even kick in paying for a lot of things. We have to pay full price now for all of my medicines until we hit the deductible & I have a couple that are several hundred dollars apiece for the 90 day supply that I get in the mail. I'm not sure who you should ask about this, but I definitely would try to find someone to help you make decisions because once you sign up you can't change anything until the next year at open enrollment.

I lived outside Derby for 23 years & we had terrible clay soil there, it was hideous stuff. I worked all of those years on a garden spot adding compost to break it down so I could grow things there. There were some trees that did fine there, silver maples & honeylocusts were what I planted in my yard & then we already had elms there when I moved there. I think some of those trees are still there now, of course much bigger after being away from there 14 years. Of course we had cottonwood trees since we had a creek bed behind the place that had water only when it rained for the most part. I planted some red cedars & pines for a wind break & for privacy from a nosy neighbor that wouldn't leave me alone. I don't know if any of those made it or not. He burned some of them down one time when he burned off his field & then during the night the fire started up again & burned into my yard & came almost to the house before a neighbor passing by late at night came pounding on the door to warn us. Yeah, it was never dull there with that guy next door, him I don't miss.

We're kind of worn out today, yesterday was a long day, we got back about 11 last night & got our granddaughter delivered home. She slept part of the way back & that helped some with the are we there yet dialogue. Thanks for the hugs & all, it is hard to see her miss her daddy so much. I sure hope her mom isn't just talking out one side of her mouth when she says she might get to go down there for a week this summer. She says a lot of things that never come to pass, so it's hard to tell. My son is working very long hours right now & only gets one day off either Tues. or Weds. in the middle of the week & then Sundays, so it makes it hard for him to get here to see her. We told her yesterday that if she can arrange it with her mom to go stay for a few days we will take her down & come get her & bring her back.

I have chicks hatching today! HeChicken, the black sexlinks are hatching, so what do I call them since I can't actually sex them at hatch? I know the hens will be good layers, but I guess there is no way to tell what they are, so I will have to sell them as straight run. How do I explain that? Anyway, I have 3 hatched so far & I have some Ameraucanas pipping in there also. These aren't really due to hatch until Friday, but I always have some early hatchers. My little Yorkie is bouncing up & down today because of the peeping. She could sit up there all day long & cock her head & watch them if we would hold her up there, it's quite entertaining for her. I told my DH this morning we had found the perfect pastime for her.

Well as much as I don't want to I've got to get out & mow this place this afternoon, it will take me all afternoon to do it, but it's getting out of hand, so I'm going to have to. I have other things I would much rather be working on, but this has to be first. I hope you all have a great day & don't work too hard!

 

[sunshinegirl620]

I never thought about putting a tarp under the tree and letting the fruit fall all by itself. If the fruit is falling by itself, doesn't that mean that the fruit is overly ripe? I've always heard of people putting an old sheet underneath the tree and then shaking the tree. However, our trees are too tall to do even that (can't reach the branches to shake them). Thanks for the suggestion! We've been finding small mulberry trees all over the yard. Judging by how far the seedlings are from the tree, something tells me we're going to have a mulberry mess once the mulberries do start to ripen.

I'm in Western KS. We're at least 2 weeks behind Central KS as far as seasons go. I haven't planted a garden yet because we could still have a freeze and because I've been too busy...

Just curious where at in western?? I'm over by G.C.

 

[lizzyGSR]

Just curious where at in western?? I'm over by G.C.

Woohoo! Someone else in Western KS! (Sorry for the excitement. I rarely meet someone else from this area on online forums). I'm up in Northwest KS, in the Goodland area.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Danz,
I'm going to send you a PM about the Medicare

 

[averytds]

lizzyGSR, regardnig the mulberries, I read somewhere that you can put a tarp down under the tree to catch the fruit when it falls. Then you just pick what you want off the tarp. Much safer than climbing a ladder up the tree! Our mulberries are already falling, I showed them to the hens and was surprised when they didn't show any interest at all.

My kids pick/eat them at will when they're outside and feel like it. I give them a shake every so often and let the chickens eat all that fall. We've got several "volunteer" Mulberry trees. I usually leave them and just consider them free chicken food.

wild birds think they're more appetizing than my real fruit trees.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

I wrote on my facebook page asking for anyone who had little seedlings growing in their yard to let me know-- and I had someone respond that a whole bunch were popping up in his gardens! So I'll be out digging his up! So excited! So I probably don't need the seeds, but thank you so much for that offer! But black walnuts--- now, that is awesome! I forget where you are located! But that might be fun to dig up and plant here!

Oh, sorry, I have already cut off any black walnut seedings I don't want. If you can find a tree, get some of the nuts (with permission, of course) and plant them. They grow very well and grow fast also. Drop several into a hole where ever you want a tree, so you will have at least one seedling, and within a couple of years you should have seedlings up to 5 feet tall.

Danz - if the ground between you and those rotten eggs is fairly clear, maybe a butterfly net would get them out for you. I had a duck nest under a small building that I wanted to get the eggs from. I taped a butterfly net to a broom handle to make it longer and stronger and managed to scoop the eggs up one at a time with it and drag them out. Worked well in a space that there was no way I could get into.

And a butterfly net is a great tool to catch tiny chicks or quail that are loose.