Homesteaders

[Raech]

I will soon be getting 2 bunnies for my garden towards the end of spring. I will be redoing a double hutch to include a ramp for each rabbit and seperated pens to get to the grass. In theory the framing is still good, but the siding and doors need replaced, at least that is my hope. My question is I have heard of white washing the inside of chicken coops to reduce bugs, can I do that to the inside of the hutches? I would have done chickens instead of rabbits but I figure if I can rebuild the hutch and get used to outside animals that will get me started in the right direction for chickens. Plus hubby still says no to chickens, but the new landlord says yes to everything but big dogs(fence is only 3 feet tall). And now I can expand my garden even more now that we have a yard, still needs work to even get that started but it is a work in progress.

 

[alldembirds]

If anyone knows about kiwi's, I'm open for suggestions.

i dont know anything about kiwis the book im looking at has 59 varieties listed, I can give you a list of the 13 female kiwis hardy in zone 8. most of these are hardy from 4-9 some up to zone 11

A. arguta: Geneva
A. arguta: hardy red
A. arguta: Issai
A. arguta: jumbo
A. arguta: lone star
A. arguta: Rossana
A. deliciosa: Blake
A. deliciosa: exbury
A. deliciosa: hayward
A. deliciosa: saanichton
A. kolomikta: arctic beauty
A. polygama: vera's pride
A. polygama: ken's red

 

[trsturself]

I don't think I posted in this thread. We were on vacation last week and one of our water pipes burst while we were gone. It's amazing how much damage water can do! If you are interested in seeing our flood, the story and pics are here http://igg.me/at/flamingarrowfarm/x (I forgot to put pics of our bedroom/bathroom which had the wood floors cut out of them). I don't know how much I'll post in the next week or so, but I'm trying to keep up with my reading. If you can share the campaign I'd be grateful.

 

[rancher hicks]

I am sorry for your trouble.

Rancher

 

[trsturself]

Thanks. It just keeps dumping on us. I hate that when it rains it pours!

 

[rancher hicks]

Thanks. It just keeps dumping on us. I hate that when it rains it pours!

Well now I'm sure it seems like that at times. It does us too. They say (who ever "they" is) what ever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but I've never been able to believe it. When I broke my leg it didn't kill me but it sure isn't stronger. When it gets cold my leg hurts real bad.

Course when my first wife left, that didn't kill me and made me stronger. When the second one left I didn't care!

Just kidding.

Now I remember why I got on this thread.

Is there anything you grow that you no longer buy? Is there anything you'd like to grow enough of that you'd not have to buy it? Is there anything you'd recommend I grow that I can grow enough of and store so I don't have to buy it?

I'd like to grow a years worth of Onions and Taters. We use A LOT of taters.

What's is your method of storing things til the next harvest?

 

[RichnSteph]

Is there anything you grow that you no longer buy? Is there anything you'd like to grow enough of that you'd not have to buy it? Is there anything you'd recommend I grow that I can grow enough of and store so I don't have to buy it?

I'd like to grow a years worth of Onions and Taters. We use A LOT of taters.

We don't grow anything yet as we're waiting for spring to get here so we can get the garden all up and running although we're getting parts and pieces put together a little at a time. We don't buy eggs anymore though since we have chickens but I'm not sure if that counts.

We want to grow 85-100% of our vegetables in our back yard. That will mean multiple beds and several of each plant (i.e. 3-4 kale, spinach, butter lettuce) so that we can eat one while the others are maturing. Since we don't have the ability down here to store things for a long time in a root cellar we're either going to have to learn to can things or I'm going to have a year round garden. Right now the second option seems to be the best for our climate. Come February I'm getting holes dug and prepped for fruit trees and an olive tree or three as well.

Onions and taters indeed! I love both of those with almost every meal. We had considered taters but they are so darn cheap to buy that it just didn't make sense to us to try and grow them. Oh we'll still try it just for fun but won't be relying on the tater towers for all of our happy starches.

 

[rancher hicks]

We don't grow anything yet as we're waiting for spring to get here so we can get the garden all up and running although we're getting parts and pieces put together a little at a time. We don't buy eggs anymore though since we have chickens but I'm not sure if that counts.

We want to grow 85-100% of our vegetables in our back yard. That will mean multiple beds and several of each plant (i.e. 3-4 kale, spinach, butter lettuce) so that we can eat one while the others are maturing. Since we don't have the ability down here to store things for a long time in a root cellar we're either going to have to learn to can things or I'm going to have a year round garden. Right now the second option seems to be the best for our climate. Come February I'm getting holes dug and prepped for fruit trees and an olive tree or three as well.

Onions and taters indeed! I love both of those with almost every meal. We had considered taters but they are so darn cheap to buy that it just didn't make sense to us to try and grow them. Oh we'll still try it just for fun but won't be relying on the tater towers for all of our happy starches.

Not buying eggs sure does count since your eggs are most likely healthier than store bought. Plus whatever you save you save.

Seeing as you're in TX, you could freeze many things such as Kale.

My motto is to plant as much as I can and a variety of it. If one doesn't work out the other might. Same goes with trees. Too I've found some years are better than others.

I agree somethings may be cheap to buy but a penny saved is a penny earned. If you spend $100 for taters but can plant and grow half of what you need, you've saved $50.

Seems to me the biggest expense is getting started. Making those beds, digging those holes and building those compost bins.

I think I'll be building another compost bin next year. I use pallets I can get for free. Every third or fourth year one will be ready to "harvest". That's not me, but you see that bale of hay. Some folks need to get rid of last years hay to store the new and will give it away. Works great in the compost pile or mulch for your garden. I get mine in trade for chickens.



Goes from my chicken runs to my garden or compost. (this is my chicken run) I'll spread it during the winter to keep their feet warm.

 

[trsturself]

We plan to grow at least 75-80% of our veggies. I think tomatoes are the one thing we definitely won't need (or want) to buy. We use a lot of potatoes also and have multiple varieties in this year's plan.

 

[alldembirds]

potatoes are so rewarding to grow, me and my wife grew a small amount of little red potatoes this last year and had a lot of fun digging them all up.