Homesteaders

[wyoDreamer]

@rancher hicks I had to laugh when I read you post. A friend told me this the other day when I was whining that my tomatoes weren't doing very well "Tomatoes and Horse manure go together like Peanut butter and Jelly." I guess her mom let her dad get a donkey on the condition that he would "cook" the manure overwinter (compost pile it) and put it in the garden in the spring for the tomatoes.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

@rancher hicks
   I had to laugh when I read you post.  A friend told me this the other day when I was whining that my tomatoes weren't doing very well  "Tomatoes and Horse manure go together like Peanut butter and Jelly."  I guess her mom let her dad get a donkey on the condition that he would "cook" the manure overwinter (compost pile it) and put it in the garden in the spring for the tomatoes.

I live next to a horse farm and for 3 years now they have had tomatoes planted in the manure pile. Holy smokes do the grow good and taste fantastic. Even in uncooked manure.

 

[rancher hicks]

I've read that it burns plants but if you put it in your garden in the fall by spring it should be fine. I filled my first beds with manure I drove more than a half hour to get. I don't have the van anymore but if I did I could get enough for the year.

There is nothing better than horse manure in my opinion.

 

[duluthralphie]

I lost 4 turkey poults 3 months old or so and 2 Chick that were adopted by a turkey hen the other night. I might have posted it here.

The only tracks I have seen were cat tracks and huge cat scat that was covered, I know when I mention cats as predators the cat lovers amongst us go crazy and come running to their defense. Last night I got my predator on camera..









I will be treating this predator like all others. I will be eliminating the threat.

 

[Serenashome]

My garden is on a 5 year crop rotation. We have added only peat and compost we create ourselves and do not chemically treat for anything. My garden does as well as the amount of time I want to put into it every year. My soil is maintained by the plants themselves as one plant adds to the soil the next years plant takes that nutrient and adds another so that my soil does not need additives. I highly recommend this. It takes some thought at first but we used farmersalmanac growveg to map it out. growveg.com Which made it incredibly simple to plan into infinity.

This is the way my grandfather planted his garden and it combats all sorts of issues like nematodes, soil quality, insects problems, and bad crop years. Not to mention lowers maintenance costs.

When I added up our value in comparison to what I normally purchase at the grocery store (I did not add in higher organic pricing though that would be more accurate) We PROFITED just over 1800 dollars year one, 1650 dollars year two and so far this year I'm over 1000 and haven't harvested over 2/3rds of my garden yet. This year looks to be the best year so far. Had I not followed a crop rotation my plants would slowly produce less and less, have more insect problems or I would be investing in soil supplements and chemicals to combat the issues.

So in the end my plants are healthier, my soil is healthier, it is easier for me to maintain, I spend less to maintain it, and I spend less time to maintain it. Not to mention what my family is eating is literally as good for you as we can produce.

 

[lcertuche]

I use to have the best garden letting my chickens use it as a run all winter. I would rake up leaves, grass, throw in my kitchen scraps. Some times it would be a foot or two high. The birds ate the pest, tilled the ground and weeded it for me. I just planted and mulched. I had the best garden. I rarely watered it, and it fed us all the fresh veggies we could eat, I canned some, and gave away to my neighbors. Of course I also had eggs all winter long and my neighbors got to telling me 'Please, no more eggs for a while!'.

If I had a truck garden and the room I would definitely try your rotation. It has been proven to work and really reduces or eliminates pest problems. I plan on fencing in my garden next to my chicken coup and use it for a winter run again. This is my first year of having a garden (we moved to a new place) so its been pretty pitiful. Almost every night we have something from the garden but many more failures than success but better than nothing. Of course my way we don't use or even need a tiller (which we don't have). My chickens really enjoyed the garden and kept busy. The fact that I had eggs all winter tells me they were well fed, along with the grain, and kitchen scraps.

Have you considered using chickens, geese, pigs, etc. as part of the rotation?

 

[lcertuche]

I lost 4 turkey poults 3 months old or so and 2 Chick that were adopted by a turkey hen the other night. I might have posted it here.

The only tracks I have seen were cat tracks and huge cat scat that was covered, I know when I mention cats as predators the cat lovers amongst us go crazy and come running to their defense. Last night I got my predator on camera..









I will be treating this predator like all others. I will be eliminating the threat.

A predator is a predator whether it is a raccoon or Mr. Whiskers!

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I lost 4 turkey poults 3 months old or so and 2 Chick that were adopted by a turkey hen the other night. I might have posted it here. The only tracks I have seen were cat tracks and huge cat scat that was covered, I know when I mention cats as predators the cat lovers amongst us go crazy and come running to their defense. Last night I got my predator on camera.. I will be treating this predator like all others. I will be eliminating the threat.

I'm a cat owner and I refuse to accept the fact my cat snuggles with chickens just to be nice. The rotten brat wants them to trust her so she can take them out one at a time. For now though I will allow her to coexist with the flock. Around here dogs are the worst. Cats are usually dead before they cause harm.

 

[duluthralphie]

A predator is a predator whether it is a raccoon or Mr. Whiskers!

They are but us humans have a soft spot for cats and dogs.

 

[lcertuche]

If I know that it is a neighbors pet then I would warn the neighbor first but where we live there are a lot of strays dropped off. I have to neighbors that rescues all the dogs they can. Both of them has so many dogs its unbelievable. Two different time cats has shown up at our house but something laid their stomachs open and killed them or I probably would have kept them. I don't know if it was a coyote, pig or what the heck it was. They were both near one of our ponds.