When I made my composter, I had to cut some styrofoam. Even though I had a tarp under when cutting, I ended up with a gallon of loose styrofoam balls in the lawn. I bet the neighbors thought I was crazy when I vacuumed the lawn.
Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta
- Thread starter CanuckBock
- Start date
Hey Tara 
I'm still here and still reading and loving all your posts. Figured rather than keep telling you how much I enjoy your posts, I will just let you know when I see something I do not like .. do not expect to hear from me any time soon
I'm still here and still reading and loving all your posts. Figured rather than keep telling you how much I enjoy your posts, I will just let you know when I see something I do not like .. do not expect to hear from me any time soon
Tara, I've been looking up some of the shrubs/trees/plants you mentioned.
On the caragana, it says that it is particularly delicious to a wide variety of insects and this result in early defoliation. Have you found this to be the case?
On the caragana, it says that it is particularly delicious to a wide variety of insects and this result in early defoliation. Have you found this to be the case?
Good morning Tara!
gee, I am thinking you must be a zone warmer than I am if you can grow pears! I so wish we could but we can barely grow apples and even those must be northern hardy. Planted some that were "supposed" to be for our zone and the poor things did survive a year or two, or three, then gone. Our best luck was actually rescuing some gone wild little apple trees we discovered growing amonst some Jack Pines on our property and moving them into the sunlight. They are doing well! Too bad their apples are small and grainy. They do make a decent canning sauce tho.
Just about every plant we have that's thriving is a Canadian variety like our Jon Monk roses and the John Forsyth Lilac. Had a good chuckle at our government department of agriculture. They had decided a few years ago that our winters were actually getting warmer so they moved us into one zone warmer. Felt sorry for the folks that actually paid attention to that and planted according to "zones". Anyone that did lost a lot of money, especially this past winter. We lost every one of our well established cherry trees that were developed by the University of Minnesota for northern zones and our favorite commercial apple orchard, one zone to our south, took a horrible hit and lost over 25% of their beautiful heavy producers and the rest were either damaged or so stressed they are hardly producing.
Anyway, I do so envy your beautiful plants and trees. We believe in planting for the future as well, but over the past 20+ years, well, lets just say Mother Nature has her own idea what she wants growing on our little patch of Pear-A-Dice.
I have a question for you.
I have read that there is quite a personality difference between the white and brown etc. Chanteclares (spelling?). Is this true? I know they are (or were?) from two distinctly different original breeding programs. What I've read states that the whites are very flighty and unfriendly where the browns have a much more mellow Austalorp type personality. What is your experience/opinion?
gee, I am thinking you must be a zone warmer than I am if you can grow pears! I so wish we could but we can barely grow apples and even those must be northern hardy. Planted some that were "supposed" to be for our zone and the poor things did survive a year or two, or three, then gone. Our best luck was actually rescuing some gone wild little apple trees we discovered growing amonst some Jack Pines on our property and moving them into the sunlight. They are doing well! Too bad their apples are small and grainy. They do make a decent canning sauce tho.
Just about every plant we have that's thriving is a Canadian variety like our Jon Monk roses and the John Forsyth Lilac. Had a good chuckle at our government department of agriculture. They had decided a few years ago that our winters were actually getting warmer so they moved us into one zone warmer. Felt sorry for the folks that actually paid attention to that and planted according to "zones". Anyone that did lost a lot of money, especially this past winter. We lost every one of our well established cherry trees that were developed by the University of Minnesota for northern zones and our favorite commercial apple orchard, one zone to our south, took a horrible hit and lost over 25% of their beautiful heavy producers and the rest were either damaged or so stressed they are hardly producing.
Anyway, I do so envy your beautiful plants and trees. We believe in planting for the future as well, but over the past 20+ years, well, lets just say Mother Nature has her own idea what she wants growing on our little patch of Pear-A-Dice.
I have a question for you.
I have read that there is quite a personality difference between the white and brown etc. Chanteclares (spelling?). Is this true? I know they are (or were?) from two distinctly different original breeding programs. What I've read states that the whites are very flighty and unfriendly where the browns have a much more mellow Austalorp type personality. What is your experience/opinion?
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Still catching up, but I have to say I love how one of our dogs has turned into my chore buddy. Originally I had pegged her as a "never chicken safe" kinda dog but I was wrong. It took some work and I doubt I'll ever trust her 100%, but wow am I ever impressed with how far she has come! She walks the yard with me as I do chores and when we get to the chickens she stands guard at the door to keep any from escaping. When we're done she practically prances back up to the house with me she's so pleased. Our other dog is just not interested but that's OK too.
I'm supposed to be doing inside the house chores like laundry, dishes and picking up.... Ick.... is it bad that I'd rather clean out the chicken coop?
I'm going to be naughty and keep reading!
Edited to fix silly auto spelling errors....
I'm supposed to be doing inside the house chores like laundry, dishes and picking up.... Ick.... is it bad that I'd rather clean out the chicken coop?
I'm going to be naughty and keep reading!
Edited to fix silly auto spelling errors....
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The U of S (university of Saskatchewan) puts out some pretty hardy fruit trees, not sure if they have pears but you could google them and see . I want to get some eventually .
. I want to get some eventually .
Northie, I have an explanation for why you may rather prefer to clean the coop... it stays done longer. Doing housework is a major pain in my back side as the very next day it looks like I haven't done anything at all! I'd rather clean the coop too! Welcome!
Northie, activating your dog by giving it a job like that will lessen the risk of attacks too. Dog problems often stem from the dog not having enough mentally or physically challenging work to do.
My sister was a exchange student at the U of S a few years back.
My sister was a exchange student at the U of S a few years back.
Love all the new photos, especially of the pups and the baby chicks! And did I read correctly that your favorite temperature is 14F?!?! It got down to 17F this past winter during the horrible Alabama Ice Winter 2014, and I was MISERABLE in that temperature! But right now it's getting to almost 100F and I feel that might just boil you!
I can't believe how much testing costs for the birds to ship across the border! That's just crazy! I guess I will just have to satisfy myself with 'Merikan chooks..... ;-) is that an oxymoron?
Any day now I will have my first ever egg!
I can't believe how much testing costs for the birds to ship across the border! That's just crazy! I guess I will just have to satisfy myself with 'Merikan chooks..... ;-) is that an oxymoron?
Any day now I will have my first ever egg!
14F is a great temperature. Snow stays solid, it's very dry, you can do all kinds of winter activities, but it's not too cold to be outside.
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