Just curious who else is living super frugal

[msw1208]

Okay, so this has pretty much nothing to do with anything regarding frugality (unless you count them being quite numerous and very much free!!)----but I've discovered that feeding Japanese beetles to my chickens is pretty much the most hysterical thing I have ever witnessed! It's like the chicken Olympics over the little buggers: chickens hurdling over other chickens and the dustbath, then the inevitable steal and keep-away. I had no idea chickens could actually run so fast. That and it keeps my garden a mite more pest free (they were hammering my dill and my borage plants).

We have huge potatoes bugs that I have given my girls and they do the same thing! They scream when they finally realize what I gave them, then it's game on. Absolutely hysterical!

 

[lazy gardener]

My girls won't touch a potato bug. and I've tried many times to get them interested. But, Japanese beetles... now that's an other story. I cut an ammonia bottle into a scoop, sawed the flat part off the bottle cap, and used the "cap ring" to screw a zip lock bag into place so it hangs down from the bottom of the "scoop". I can then use a fly swatter to knock all those beetles into the scoop and they fall down into the baggie. I make several trips around the yard every day, with a flock of girls following me like the pied piper. When I'm done collecting, the bugs are dumped into their water bowl. The ensuing "bobbing for beetles" is a pleasure to behold. I also have 2 Japanese beetle traps up, and they also get dumped daily. This time of year, the girls go to bed with bulging crops.

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

I simply love it. They follow me along too, against the fence of their pen, eyeing me with baleful anticipation (baleful in regards that they've been lusting after the garden since their arrival....and have had several failed infiltration attempts-----bum rushing me out the coop door, and literally flying the coop...). I've got my kids into it too. Win-win..the garden gets de-bugged, and the chickens get exercise AND protein. I haven't seen any potato bugs yet, but it seems like we went from NO Japanese beetles, to droves, in literally 24 hours.

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

I planted really early this spring (roulette with the weather and frosts...), in hopes of harvesting double the crops (at least of my cold loving veggies like spinach, kale, carrots, beets). Anyone else save things like beet greens? I blanched and froze some (I haven't harvested my beets yet, but I thinned them down a little yesterday) and they are a favorite spinach substitute of mine in soups and pasta sauces. Question: any ideas of what to do with carrot greens? I've got a jungle of them out there, and it seems like such a waste to not utilize them for food (if not I'll compost them)..

 

[lazy gardener]

compost

 

[Arielle]

get a rabbit!!

will the chickens eat them??

 

[Arielle]

Fed the peach scraps and watermellon rinds to the chickens, alsong with old blueberries and spoiled strawberries!!

 

[lazy gardener]

I processed 9 chickens today. It was an all day effort, and I'm exhausted. The flock got a pot full of boiled lungs. I'm also saving liver, spleen, oysters for them. Plan to boil the backs into a nice broth, expecting that there will be plenty of meat from them, put up into quart sized portions for instant "Just add veggies" soup. Set 2 coon traps, one with a chicken head, an other one with a couple of feet. I think i heard rocky rustling around in the woods while i was out counting beaks.

 

[erinszoo]

I planted really early this spring (roulette with the weather and frosts...), in hopes of harvesting double the crops (at least of my cold loving veggies like spinach, kale, carrots, beets). Anyone else save things like beet greens? I blanched and froze some (I haven't harvested my beets yet, but I thinned them down a little yesterday) and they are a favorite spinach substitute of mine in soups and pasta sauces. Question: any ideas of what to do with carrot greens? I've got a jungle of them out there, and it seems like such a waste to not utilize them for food (if not I'll compost them)..

Rabbits love them. Sometimes my chickens will eat them too. Ducks love them as well.

Beet greens get thrown into salads at our house.

I'm growing ginger this year for the first time. Anyone have experience with when to harvest, etc?

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

get a rabbit!!

will the chickens eat them??

I think I'll throw a mound into their run and see what they'll do. I'm going to process the carrots Monday when I do the rest of my beets! ) I threw them the leftover beet scraps from canning and they went wild over it. From afar it looked really gorey like a flock of ferocious carnivorous buff orpingtons (heaven forbid....they're already like a flock of feathered piranhas!).

I processed 9 chickens today. It was an all day effort, and I'm exhausted. The flock got a pot full of boiled lungs. I'm also saving liver, spleen, oysters for them. Plan to boil the backs into a nice broth, expecting that there will be plenty of meat from them, put up into quart sized portions for instant "Just add veggies" soup. Set 2 coon traps, one with a chicken head, an other one with a couple of feet. I think i heard rocky rustling around in the woods while i was out counting beaks.

What kind of birds did you process? How old were they? I've got an order in for 25 Cornish cross birds (it took all summer for me to talk DH into the benefits/challenges but overall sensibility of it), and they'll be here the first week of august (I figure it'll mean I can process them middle/end of September between 6 and 8 weeks of age, as I'm ordering all cockerals). When we process the deer we hunt we save everything too, and use it to feed the dog but we save all the fat to render into lard for cooking (and I used some of it on soap once).

Rabbits love them. Sometimes my chickens will eat them too. Ducks love them as well.

Beet greens get thrown into salads at our house.

I'm growing ginger this year for the first time. Anyone have experience with when to harvest, etc?

Beet greens are soooooooo awesome. I love substituting with them instead of spinach in soup and pastas and smoothies. You need to post how your ginger harvest goes! I wanted to try growing some this year too, but I didn't get around to it.. and I know nothing about harvesting it. My "Backyard Homestead" book says: "The ginger plant grows tall quickly and resembles a stand of bamboo--in six weeks, it can be as tall as 3 feet! Although the rhizome can be harvested after just a few months, it doesn't develop its full flavor until the plant is mature, which can take up to a year. If you live in a cold climate, bring the container indoors in fall and water only sparingly through the winter (no more than once a month); the plant should receive just enough water to keep it alive but in a dormant state. The foliage may die back, but it will resprout in spring." Don't know if that helps any, but it's the only ginger reference I've got! I'd love to hear how your harvest goes!