Maine

[superchemicalgirl]

I shove them in until the tops are about 1/2 inch under? Something like that. It's not an exact science. I then cover with leaves. My ducks dig for them and eat most of them. I'm lucky to get what I get.

 

[buckabucka]

DH thinks he put the garlic 2" underground. It probably does not matter as long as you cover the area with leaves (or something).

Lazy gardener, have you tried a trough-style feeder, with a bar across the top? I seem to get less waste with those. Ours is homemade.

It felt so cold today! I set up snow fence all around the hoop coop to trap the chickens in the garden area. I don't let them truly free-range, since I worry about them wandering towards the neighbors. Their dog is not tied, although the are really good about keeping him in their yard. I had a little success freeing some of the deer fence from the tall grass, brambles, and sod that have swallowed it up, but I still have a ton of fencing to remove, and tons of yard debris to take care of.

Can grass seed (or some other hardy green) be successfully planted this late in the year? The area where the hoop coop was all summer is a dust bowl, and it would be nice to get something growing there for when we move the chickens back in the spring.

 

[lazy gardener]

Bucka, doubtful that you would get enough coverage from seed sown now to provide much coverage for spring time. When will you move them back? You could sow seed now, and cover with a light layer of hay. when the frost gets into the ground and those ice crystals push up a layer of soil, that's actually a good time to sow, but don't expect good strong growth from that type of sowing until mid summer. Also, the mice might make quite a dent in the grass seed between now and spring. If I were you and planning to move them back into the same run space in the spring, I'd get some nice weedy hay, and lightly mulch that area. It would give you free seed, and keep it from eroding much.

How deep was the trough feeder that you made? I actually made a gutter feeder with intent to attach a length of vertical stove pipe for a reservoir, and was going to attach it to the wall of their hoop coop, but I think it might be too shallow and they'll scoop the feed out onto the ground.

I still have to make the extra cattle panel addition, and cover the whole thing with plastic. Need to do that before I can put up a temporary run for the girls.

While doing a skin check on one of my cats tonight, I found that he has been in quite a fight. Has lots of areas on both his shoulder and belly that are scabbed over. The ones on his belly look quite deep. I'm wondering if an owl tried to nab him? He pesters to go outside before it is really light out, so tonight, he's spending the night in the basement. I wish the cats could be strictly indoor cats, but with 2 kids running in/out of the house all the time, it wasn't possible to keep them inside.

 

[buckabucka]

Weedy hay sounds like a good idea. We've never returned the coop to the exact same spot before, but we really liked having them where they were. They will have access to a fenced in area, but only when we are around.

The feeder is maybe 6" deep, it could be shallower, but it has a lip along the inside edges. DH built it. Building is not one of my better skills. If I make it home in daylight, I'll take a photo.

I used to be outside almost every night with a flashlight rescuing my cat from a fight. We had a cat door and he would not tolerate being locked in. He lived a long time before getting a tumor on his lung, and while I was quite fond of him, I do not miss running outside with a flashlight all the time!

 

[lazy gardener]

Re: garlic. It is actually growing like a weed in my garden. If you want an abundance of garlic, let a few scapes mature. After "flowering" they will form a lot of little bulbils. Without intervention, they will fall to the ground and form little cloves. It will take 2 years for those little cloves to develop into respectable heads. I don't let the little plants interfere with my planting. If they are in the way, they get spaded up. If you want a dedicated planting, just drop the mature scape heads (or scatter the bulbils) where you would like a patch of garlic. Also, if you don't get around to digging your garlic, it will just produce a bigger clump next year. Some clumps I dig are about 6" across. (Told you I was a Lazy gardener!!)

You can also get next years lettuce going by letting a few of your leaf lettuce plants go to seed (it has to be from the first planting) Let the plants die a natural death, or pull them up and lay them where you want next year's lettuce crop to be. Lettuce breeds true for the most part. Can do the same thing with dill (doesn't breed true... the short varieties will produce 4' tall plants the next year) and parsley. (parsley goes to seed in the second year.) Gardening doesn't get any easier than that! Radish seed pods make great salad additions, but they don't generally breed true for the next planting... however if you like radish sprouts, a single radish will produce an abundant supply of seeds.

 

[MustardTiger]

****Totally chicken unrelated rant****

Bear with me here. I need to vent and because of the secret nature of the topic have nowhere else to do so!

My husband and I have (finally after agonizing for a long time!) decided to try and have a baby

we are both very happy and excited about this. Our philosophy is that pregnancy and childbirth are normal and natural. I am a healthy person, under 35 and I do not *expect* any particular problems though I know they can occur no matter what. We would love to have the baby at home with a midwife. I was born at home and so was my brother. We were fine. The rates of unnecessary medical intervention (c section, Episiotomy etc) are much lower at home and the support from a midwife/doula is (imo) much better than the often rushed and impersonal care at a hospital.

Through my research this am I come to realize that my insurance though otherwise great, will NOT pay for a home birth. There are also no licensed midwives in Maine who do home births. There are plenty of unlicensed (CPM) who do BUT then we are stuck paying out of pocket. $3000 or so. This would not be impossible for us but it would be very hard especially since I will be on short term disability and at a fraction of my normal pay for 12 weeks. Home births are VASTLY cheaper for insurance than hospital births. It is so frustrating that something so normal is made so clinical. I know I can have a midwife at Mercy which looks like a nice birth center but man...it is pretty depressing in any case that I am forced out of my choice for something so important.

Of course we have not told anyone we are trying to conceive hence my vent in here.
Thanks for listening!

 

[MEMama3]

****Totally chicken unrelated rant****



Bear with me  here. I need to vent and because of the secret nature of the topic have nowhere else to do so! 

My husband and I have (finally after agonizing for a long time!) decided to try and have a baby   we are both very happy and excited about this. Our philosophy is that pregnancy and childbirth are normal and natural. I am a healthy person, under 35 and I do not *expect* any particular problems though I know they can occur no matter what. We would love to have the baby at home with a midwife. I was born at home and so was my brother. We were fine. The rates of unnecessary medical intervention (c section, Episiotomy etc) are much lower at home and the support from a midwife/doula is (imo) much better than the often rushed and impersonal care at a hospital. 

Through my research this am I come to realize that my insurance though otherwise great, will NOT pay for a home birth. There are also no licensed midwives in Maine who do home births. There are plenty of unlicensed (CPM) who do BUT then we are stuck paying out of pocket. $3000 or so. This would not be impossible for us but it would be very hard especially since I will be on short term disability and at a fraction of my normal pay for 12 weeks.  Home births are VASTLY cheaper for insurance than hospital births. It is so frustrating that something so normal is made so clinical. I know I can have a midwife at Mercy which looks like a nice birth center but man...it is pretty depressing in any case that I am forced out of my choice for something so important.  

Of course we have not told anyone we are trying to conceive hence my vent in here. 
Thanks for listening! 

What part of Maine are you in? Two of my children were born in birthing centers and two were in hospitals (induction), but I know several of my friends had home births. They may have had doulas and actually delivered on their own. I'll ask around. A good jumping off point would be to contact doulas in your area. They could point you in the right direction.

PS: Way to go with doing natural. It's not for everyone and I certainly don't pass judgement, but my two hospital births were by far the most painful. After loads of pitocin with my last I finally accepted an epidural.

 

[MustardTiger]

Thanks!
I am just outside portland. I have made appointments to interview a few midwives (CPMs) and have reached out to birthroots to see if they have any resources.
I will visit Mercy as well to see what I think. I just suspect I would have a better time having my wishes honored with a home birth. worst comes to worst I may do it at home, then bill insurance and cross my fingers. Sometimes they let it slide though and reimburse even though their policy says no home birth!

coming from Canada....the medical system here is a real mind bender for me!

 

[lazy gardener]

I also chose the home birth, had a local country Doc for the first one, ended up at the hospital for the second one, as my Doc was out of town that weekend, and she was 3 weeks early. I can tell you that the home birth was great in terms of being more relaxed and in control. I can also tell you that I was quite pleasantly surprised at the way my wishes were honored at the hospital. We arrived just as the 7 - 3 shift was coming on duty, and I could hear them whispering at the nurses station about me..."Planned home birth". No meds were pushed on me, I refused to let them keep my husband down stairs to "do paperwork", refused the doc on call b/c he had a rep as being an episiotomy butcher, refused to even let him touch me, so they called in a resident, who did a great job while the old butcher stood in the background mumbling. I gave birth, between me and my husband, we never let the baby out of our sight, refused silver nitrate for baby's eyes (they gave option of ointment which is much less irritating). Had breakfast and a shower, and we were home by 1:30 PM that day. I don't know how pushy they are at the local hospitals now, but my experience was far better than expected because I was well educated about my options and rights, and I'm a pushy broad!!! I wish you the best of luck Mustard Tiger. It's a decision only you and your husband can make. Stand up for yourself, and don't let any one push you into a situation you are not comfortable with. I don't know if it's still common hospital practice to keep a mother in labor from eating, but I find that to be the most barbaric policy ever invented. When the time comes, your body will know what it needs. If you need any further reassurance, PM me.

BTW, I love chickens... There, now this post is chicken related!

 

[Widget]

Thanks!
I am just outside portland. I have made appointments to interview a few midwives (CPMs) and have reached out to birthroots to see if they have any resources.
I will visit Mercy as well to see what I think. I just suspect I would have a better time having my wishes honored with a home birth. worst comes to worst I may do it at home, then bill insurance and cross my fingers. Sometimes they let it slide though and reimburse even though their policy says no home birth!

coming from Canada....the medical system here is a real mind bender for me!

Believe me coming from here the medical system is still a mind bender. No idea why some things are allowed and other things that would actually be cheaper for the insurance company are not allowed. I have hypothyroidism. Easily treated. But I have to have my blood tested every so often to make sure the medication is at the correct dose. So naturally insurance doesnt pay for the blood work and it also has to be sent out to a lab with results back the next day. I end up with a bill for over $100 for a simple test. Yet when I had a dog with the same condition I could take her to the vet and the same exact test was less than $50. And the test was done onsite with the results in 20 minutes. Currently I do not have insurance so I am not on medication anyway even though it is not great for my health but even with mandatory insurance I would rather pay the fine than pay for insurance that does not help me. Oddly enough I have looked into the new program and managed to get all the way through the website but I have not signed up yet. For me the cost is actually fairly reasonable but again why bother when it will not cover the simple stuff like a thyroid test.

As for home births I say go for it. If you cant then long before the due date sit down and write out what you and your husband want and what you do not want. And be pushy about it. You are the patient and have rights. If you do not want something then the hospital and the staff have no right to force it on you. I have heard great things about Mercy but I do have issues with their having a religious affiliation.

My mother had seven children between 1942 and 1967. She looked forward to going to the hospital to give birth. Why? Well back then the mother and child got to stay for a week. For her it was a mini vacation. At home she had laundry, ironing, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the kids already there. At the hospital she was waited on by nurses who actually looked like nurses (no scrubs but a real uniform so you knew who was who), the hospital was spotless and she was treated like a queen.

My niece had her baby in the parking lot of the hospital. Little bugger just did not want to wait. Wonder how the insurance company felt about that one. It was not a home birth but it also was not a hospital birth.