Homesteaders

[Molpet]

Pictures of today. Chicken cleanings make good mulch. Old screen doors have a use and my new compost "bin". I wanted one I could just roll the wheel barrow into and dump it. The pallets and lumber were free snaggings from around town. Parsely is hardy for some cold. I've covered them with mini green houses. The raspberries were freebies and doing better than the store bought. I've got to get a Sawsall for the old tires dumped in the woods so I can recycle them. Picutures will follow.

do you take the old tires some where to be recycled or do you repurpose and make something out of them?

 

[lazy gardener]

Love the pics.

Red neck re:do. Today, hubby and I took one of the old metal swing sets (aka bean trellis) out of the garden and moved it into the chicken run. My plan is to use the frame with some lumber added to build a sun room for the flock. It will be closed in on the north, east, and south sides, and left open (maybe all the way, or part way) on the west. I plan to buy green house tarps of the appropriate size to make it easy to set up/tear down at the end of the winter. I may leave that frame in the run and replace the clear tarps with dark tarps to give the flock more options in the run during the rest of the year.

I have a growing mound of compost in the works in the run. It is currently about 8' x 8' and 3' high. Still more garden debris to add to it. should be nicely rotted by spring.

 

[CourtneyBowman]

Love the pics.  

Red neck re:do.  Today, hubby and I took one of the old metal swing sets (aka bean trellis) out of the garden and moved it into the chicken run.  My plan is to use the frame with some lumber added to build a sun room for the flock.  It will be closed in on the north, east, and south sides, and left open (maybe all the way, or part way) on the west.  I plan to buy green house tarps of the appropriate size to make it easy to set up/tear down at the end of the winter.  I may leave that frame in the run and replace the clear tarps with dark tarps to give the flock more options in the run during the rest of the year.  

I have a growing mound of compost in the works in the run.  It is currently about 8' x 8' and 3' high.  Still more garden debris to add to it.  should be nicely rotted by spring.  

I seriously want to learn how to compost! But whether I read about it online, or seems so daunting. "30% of those, 15% of those, and so on." The only natural leaves I have around here are pine needles :/ is comparing really as complex as I keep reading?

 

[Beekissed]

I seriously want to learn how to compost! But whether I read about it online, or seems so daunting. "30% of those, 15% of those, and so on." The only natural leaves I have around here are pine needles

is comparing really as complex as I keep reading?

Nope...just about anything will rot if you throw it in a pile out in the weather where it can stay a little damp/moist under the top layer. No turning or percentages of this or that needed.

You can even do it in your chicken coop and run and that takes any of the work and guesswork right out of it. They add the nitrogen and all you have to do is add the carbonaceous materials. I'd stay away from too much pine shavings if you want good composting there, sticking with a variety of particle sizes and composting rates~wood chips are fine if you don't use too much or too fresh, leaves..as many as you want, a little straw, a little hay, pine cones and needles, corn stalks and shucks, twigs, kitchen waste, garden debris, grass clippings if not too wet, and kitchen scraps/waste, hair, bark, etc.

Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

If you live in a dry climate, add things with more natural moisture-grass clippings, hay, food waste~ and add a bucket of water now and again. If you live where it's very humid, then add dryer materials like straw, woody weed stems, a little wood chips or shavings, pine needles and cones...anything that composts a little slower and opens up more air into the compost pile/litter pack. Don't stir it, just add dry things on top or flip the very top layer, but you'll want to trap moisture in the middle of the pile or litter pack for good composting.

 

[rancher hicks]

do you take the old tires some where to be recycled or do you repurpose and make something out of them?

For me to take them somewhere will cost me $4 each and since I have so many I'd rather recycle them here. The problem is cutting them for the use i have in mind.

 

[rancher hicks]

I seriously want to learn how to compost! But whether I read about it online, or seems so daunting. "30% of those, 15% of those, and so on." The only natural leaves I have around here are pine needles

is comparing really as complex as I keep reading?

There is a science to it, but generally it involves Green material and Brown. I just toss whatever is safe to go in the pile and let nature take it's course. Since I have more than one, there is not hurry.

I do have chicken run composting too. I toss in wood shavings, green veggie stuff and hay. Adding scratch help them to mix it up. I also add peat moss and sand to keep things moving. I also give a turn now and then keeping a spade inside the run.

This run is covered with plastic most of the year so it's warm inside when the sun is up. In the summer I cut the plastic so the sides are open.



I have hay being delivered this week to keep inside the run so the birds have something to play on. During the winter I or they break open a bale to keep the floor of the run dry. I'd prefer straw but it's expensive. Some pictures are from previous years but the system is the same each year.

 

[lazy gardener]

I seriously want to learn how to compost! But whether I read about it online, or seems so daunting. "30% of those, 15% of those, and so on." The only natural leaves I have around here are pine needles

is comparing really as complex as I keep reading?

Courtney, if you read the "composting how-to's", they will give you some ideas about how to go about it. But, really, it's not a science. As other posters have stated, basically pile the stuff up, and let rot happen! What are you doing with your yard debris right now? What are you doing with your kitchen debris right now? What are you doing with any cardboard and paper that is not plastic coated right now? What are you doing with the litter from your coop right now? Put it all together, and you're gonna have one beautiful steaming heap of compost!!! You don't even need to turn it, unless you want to. The only time I turn compost is if I want to see what's growing inside that pile, see if it's loaded with insects, and see how hot it's getting. Otherwise, I just leave it alone. Fall is the perfect time to build a pile b/c of the glut of garden debris and leaves that most yards seem to generate.

 

[duluthralphie]

I have found you need to have 3 times as much vegetable debris in the compost as the weight of all the ducks you throw in the pile...

Ducks can even ruin rotting stuff!

Also adding water seems to help. It gets too dry here on the sand and the moisture gets sucked out too fast. I have thought about putting the pile on plastic but I do not want to deal with that when I turn it.

 

[CourtneyBowman]

Courtney, if you read the "composting how-to's", they will give you some ideas about how to go about it.  But, really, it's not a science.  As other posters have stated, basically pile the stuff up, and let rot happen!  What are you doing with your yard debris right now?  What are you doing with your kitchen debris right now?  What are you doing with any cardboard and paper that is not plastic coated right now?  What are you doing with the litter from your coop right now?  Put it all together, and you're gonna have one beautiful steaming heap of compost!!!  You don't even need to turn it, unless you want to.  The only time I turn compost is if I want to see what's growing inside that pile, see if it's loaded with insects, and see how hot it's getting.  Otherwise, I just leave it alone.  Fall is the perfect time to build a pile b/c of the glut of garden debris and leaves that most yards seem to generate.  

That's the problem, we don't have any yard debris lol we live in the desert, and the only thing we have on our acre and a half are pine trees. I might have to see if I can get some leaves from my father in law or something.

Thanks for all the tips, everyone!

 

[chantels1]

New to this urban farming/ self sustaining thing. What to you consider THE MOST important thing you do? Gardening? If so what is the most important crop to you? Raising Meat? If so what meat is your most sustainable? How do you preserve your food?

I need to learn to can meat,and veggies. It will be my project this spring. I just have a small urban home, and am trying to best utilize the small amount of property I have. We will be raising and processing our chickens. I will be growing a small garden. We are in Nor Cal, so weather is perfect.