Hügelkultur Raised Beds

[Appalachickens]

Prime target for borrowing

Nice thing about living is the sticks is no one can really see what we have!

 

[Sally PB]

Nice thing about living is the sticks is no one can really see what we have!

The person most likely to see anything back here? The delivery driver for UPS or FedEx. The mail carrier only comes back to any of us with a package; the mail boxes are 1/4 mile away, where the county stops being responsible for maintenance.

That said, I suspect a mail carrier (not the current one) might have been responsible for a break in at our old farm house right after it became ours.

 

[Sally PB]

This year, I need to add calcium to my tomato bed. LOTS of blossom end rot last year! Someone suggested gypsum; anyone else have a suggestion?

The egg shells go back to the chickens, so that's not an option. They'll eat the oyster shell, but much prefer the eggshells.

 

[Sally PB]

I ordered some soil test kits from Michigan State University to test the soil in both my sandy soil and heavy soil gardens, separately, since the soils are so different. Of course, I can't dig any soil up for about 6 weeks yet!

MSU is the big ag school here. About 50 years ago, its nickname was "Moo U."

 

[gtaus]

That said, I suspect a mail carrier (not the current one) might have been responsible for a break in at our old farm house right after it became ours.

That's too bad. I hate it when I suspect a person for something bad yet have no real proof. It's just a bad feeling.

FWIW, the people I know that work(ed) at the USPS were very good people.

 

[Sally PB]

That's too bad. I hate it when I suspect a person for something bad yet have no real proof. It's just a bad feeling.

This was the old farmhouse we bought through foreclosure. On the day we were able to say, "It's ours," we went out to start cleaning it up. The guy who lost it did not close the door, and critters had been living in it for years. Lots of raccoons, lots of raccoon poop. We went out with a shovel and a pitchfork. Yeah, it was that kind of mess.

The mailboxes for everyone on the road are in front of that house. I was in the yard when the mail carrier drove up. She always put the mail in the boxes, then backed into the driveway to turn around and leave.

She was on her phone, and as she backed up, she literally did this emoji: when she saw that there was someone at the house and that they were working on it.

The next day when hubby went out, he called me and said, "Someone's been in here. The door was broken, and our shovel and pitchfork are gone."

Yes, we called the sheriff. He came out and we made a report. Not expecting they'd ever get our two tools back, but just for it to be on record that someone had broken in.

Thank goodness we didn't leave anything else there.

Yes, I have no real proof that she -- or someone she knew -- is to blame for that. Just a gut feeling.

 

[gtaus]

This year, I need to add calcium to my tomato bed. LOTS of blossom end rot last year! Someone suggested gypsum; anyone else have a suggestion?

I grow lots of tomatoes, so I have had to think about blossom end rot and what causes it, how to prevent it, etc...

I am no expert, but here is what I found online...

I first thought the problem was lack of calcium in the soil, but the more and more I read about it is that blossom end rot is caused by the plant not being able to take up enough calcium. I am not sure how you keep consistent soil moisture when you grow plants outside in the weather?

I feed all my eggshells back to my chickens. They can absorb the eggshell calcium for themselves and excrete the excess calcium in their chicken poo. I compost all my chicken poo and coop litter to feed the gardens. I think that's a faster way to add calcium to the garden then crushing eggshells and tilling it into the garden soil. From what I understand, it normally takes 3-5 years for crushed and/or ground eggshells to actually release the calcium into the soil.

 

[Sally PB]

I mulched my tomato bed heavily last year. I watered it regularly, after checking to see if the soil was moist. I don't think it was lack of or uneven watering, TBH. I will be very interested in what MSU says about my soil.

 

[gtaus]

Yes, we called the sheriff. He came out and we made a report. Not expecting they'd ever get our two tools back, but just for it to be on record that someone had broken in.

I live out in the country, on some lakeshore property. I have had a few things walk off on me and had to call the sheriff. Of course, I knew I would never get anything back, but at least they had a record of my loss in case they busted anyone with a stash of stolen goods.

Sheriff's deputy basically said they had a lot of reports of breakins and stolen goods. He suspected it was a drug user picking up things for quick sale/trade for their habit.

I never got anything back. Nothing stolen that was not replaceable, but who wants to buy new stuff when you don't have to?

 

[Sally PB]

We figured that whoever went in there was thinking they'd find a bunch of tools. Nope, we were still digging out raccoon poop!

This is the farmhouse we let the local FD burn down for practice. Nothing worth stealing there now!