Homesteaders

[Beekissed]

I feel the same way!

It's good to know folks like you are out there, even while wishing we all lived a little closer so we could fellowship.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Our community isn't a small on just because we are "just a chat room". That should in fact make our reach even greater. We can't change the world ,but we sure can help one person at a time have a slightly healthier and safer life. All it took for me to want to transition to homesteader was a loaf of fresh bread and some farm fresh vegetables from my SIL. The smallest gift from the heart is always better than the largest from the store.

So on to the next topic, my collards and kale are 2 inches tall now. I should have more than enough to drop some off at the food bank , along with eggs , the day they open to do food packages. I hope to help some skip canned for at least a few meals a month. They only open twice a month. I also plan on taking in an assortment of vegetables all season long as they come ready.

 

[DustyDave]

In Tulsa, the "Green Waste" site takes free from everyone in the county, not exclusively urban roadside trimmings. Though commercial companies have to pay, residents drop off as much tree or brush as they want for free. You can pickup fresh ground chips or older composted mulch free too. More importantly there could be anything from sweetgum balls to poison ivy. Sure, some of the material originates from the city, but they turn around and use the same stuff for all the parks, including playground base padding under swings, etc.
Mostly the choice is up to you. Get the older stuff and the majority of the possible problems will have composted or washed out. Just back up to the pile in a place that looks like what you want and the guy scoops it with a loader and dumps it in your bed free. Get a Load handler, and you can crank it right out almost as easily too!

 

[rancher hicks]

I picked up nearly 300 bags of leaves in the closest town to me and didn't think twice about it. The brief contact leaves have with the surface of a lawn before they are raked and bagged doesn't seem too big of a risk to me. Now, if they were spraying chemicals all over their trees that would be another matter, but I'm not going to worry about that either...I live in the mid-Ohio Valley, otherwise known as Chemical Alley. If I'm not dead from breathing the air here, I'm not likely to die from a few leaves that touched a few lawns that may or may not have been sprayed with something in the spring and summer.

A person just has to have some faith about things beyond our control and I have it.

I have faith about things not in my control too. If you're fine with it, so am I, but please don't question my faith.

 

[DustyDave]

Quote:
I love me some Permaculture but I had to look "ramial" up. Unfortunately I find that like other vocations, some who absolutely love their work have overanalyzed farming and try to use "industry" jargon like polyphase farming, hugelkultur, and ramial wood with those outside that sphere. Most all of us homestead and home garden types should understand regenerative agriculture when described as ditches with wood chips, layered mulch in the garden bed, etc. "Permaculture with Jack Spirko" is a nice youtube series, but 16 videos does go on. Pretty concise considering the original book though. I believe I remember him admitting he never read the original "Permaculture Design Manual” by Bill Mollison front to back. It's a resource, and like any method, 'spice to taste, cook till done' for your own property. There's supposed to be a fairly common sense Regenerative Agriculture facebook group, but I quit that network almost a year and a half ago. Too much real life going on!

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:

You'd think that, wouldn't you? But, almost without fail, I've had to explain to those interested in the BTE method who have not watched the film or have not watched it thoroughly that the wood chips used are not pine shavings, nor are they equal to one another for this usage. I find by adding the descriptor of "ramial" that it often causes people to have to look it up for clarification, which leads them to more intense study on the nature of the wood chips used and why ramial wood chips are more suited to improving the soil when composted then mere chipped wood or pine shavings.

Or, I could waste my time in fruitless explanations while someone only half listens to my words, goes out and gets a load of pine shavings and dumps them on the soil a month or so prior to gardening and then expects good results.

 

[Beekissed]

I have faith about things not in my control too. If you're fine with it, so am I, but please don't question my faith.

No one questioned your faith or anything else about you, as far as I can tell. The "person" in the sentence was a general "person" and not referring to you personally, but to me, a person, people in general.

 

[DustyDave]

You'd think that, wouldn't you?  But, almost without fail, I've had to explain to those interested in the BTE method who have not watched the film or have not watched it thoroughly that the wood chips used are not pine shavings, nor are they equal to one another for this usage.  I find by adding the descriptor of "ramial" that it often causes people to have to look it up for clarification, which leads them to more intense study on the nature of the wood chips used and why ramial wood chips are more suited to improving the soil when composted then mere chipped wood or pine shavings. 

Or, I could waste my time in fruitless explanations while someone only half listens to my words, goes out and gets a load of pine shavings and dumps them on the soil a month or so prior to gardening and then expects good results. 

I wouldn't even know where to get Pine shavings without buying those little compressed cubes from the store. Ironically cheaper is easier when you can get bulk mulch or just have a tree trimming company drop off their load in your yard.

 

[5Sons Coop]

I have 5 white leghorn, 5 black sex link and 5 red sex link. They are about a year old and were laying great since last fall. These are the first layers I had. I raised a few batches of jumbo boilers before them. I need a little more body heat in the coop over winter so I was going to add 3 more of each. I was also going to add a second coop with 10-15 jumbo boilers. Then I see the hatchery I trust and love has Sagitta they sound like the perfect dual purpose bird for me. I could keep some for layers and butcher some this fall or do I butcher my old ones when or before they molt? I can only get the Sagitta in a straight run so I was thinking of getting 20 of them. What is appealing is jumbo boilers need different feed and could not stay with my layers. Have my meat birds be replacement chickens just seems way cool. I am struggling to find detailed information on these from anyone first hand on BYC. I did find this description.

Sagitta - From Dunlap Hatchery
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The Sagitta is a dual purpose bird that is a cross between a Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire Red and Cornish Cross. They are a heavy, docile breed that will provide large eggs as well as a nice size bird on the table.

 

[rancher hicks]

I wouldn't even know where to get Pine shavings without buying those little compressed cubes from the store. Ironically cheaper is easier when you can get bulk mulch or just have a tree trimming company drop off their load in your yard.

It never occurred to me to contact a tree service about mulch. after my chickens are gone I will still need shavings or want them to mulch around my raised beds. Too I 'd like to make a path down to the creek. starting from this door or seeon to be door.