Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[NovaAman]

never thought of drying grapes....

i learned something today, thougth I'd share...

i hate the clothes line for towels.

thats it. carry on.

 

[taprock]

I am loving my dehydrator at the moment. I dry everything left over from farmer's market just bits here and there. But this week I put everything in the fair and ended up with $70+ in premiums for just the dried stuff. It seems no one else entered any so I cleaned up, all blues and a sweepstakes. The thing I really love is how little space it takes to store everything.

 

[snowflake]

I was at a dehydrating class put on by MSU-E recently and they said things should dry from the inside - out. They talked about using a toothpick to poke holes in anything with a thick skin: a single hole in blueberries and two in grapes

thanks Mish, I will try that,I had read somewhere (Mother Earth maybe) that freezing tuff skinned foods first helps them dehydrate faster because the skin has broken down...Grapes would become raisins(yes?)
towels become stiff on the line but you could soften them up a bit in the dryer and still save as you only need to put them in for a short time. flannel shirts get stiff to, most cloths when I was a kid(many,many years ago

) we had no dryer and hung miles of cloths, 7 kids!
a couple in diapers at a time. We had a vacant lot next to the house(great ball field as we were growing up) my mom had cloths line that stretched from on one end of the yard to the other 5 times. LOVE sheets and cotton dish towels dried on the line

 

[snowflake]

congratulations!! Tap, what all do you dry? have you done beens and tomatoes? I have an old plastic dehydrator ,with a crack in the top but it still woks well, thought I would try a little spice on the tomatoes..

Nova that is a cool coop you could expand the run using that top piece of the swing set I am amazed they still have it at that price!


my little hen that is injured?? is still not back to normal,, Nova didn't you have a hen that had a bad leg then got sick and died? this hen is 9weeks old from CS, so I think about 9 weeks. her foot is curled up and she isn't walking. otherwise seems fine eats, drinks, poo's, don't know if she injured her hip? or if she is sick. doesn't look like I would imagine Meriks to look like? eyes are clear how fast does that usually develop symptoms? eyes are clear. Can't afford to take her to the vet right now that would cost as much as that nice coop up here.

She is resting nicely in her dog kennel out under the deck, she can see and hear the others but not get near them (our deck is a second story deck.) wonder if I should try exercising the leg??

 

[NovaAman]

No, no hen with leg injury and death. I have one with bumble toe... Such an odd spot having a hard time even treating... But, I will keep at it. She gets around and eats like crazy though.

My dryer took a poop. Might work for 2 minute, then shuts off and buzzes if you try and turn it on...

 

[NovaAman]

However, this is the same hen that I thought SPRAINED her leg cuz she was holding it up, and I could not find anything wrong... It took near 2 weeks for the bumble to finally show...

 

[Stacykins]

I am pretty excited. Since I know I won't have goatie girls of age to breed and milk for a while, I just got involved with a milk share program. After expressing my interest in the goat milk shares, I scheduled a farm visit with the woman offering the shares. In a nutshell, a milk share is essentially a 'leasing' program where you lease a portion of a milking goat, and you pay a small fee every month for care and maintenance. In return, you get milk every week.

It was a lovely place! The woman has a small herd of five goats, three alpines and two Nigerians. Their pasture and enclosures were very clean, and so was the milking area. She showed me everything, from the goats, milking area, where she cleans and sanitizes milking equipment, and milk storage. And I got a taste of the fresh milk I would be buying (gotta test the product, haha), which was delicious!

I'll be getting a half gallon of milk a week. That is definitely enough for my needs. The milk is raw, which is something that doesn't bother or worry me. I will just make sure that I am the only one in the household who will drink it.

Oh, and she had a small flock of lovely and very friendly chickens! They're very used to getting treats, so they were incredibly interested in what we were doing during the visit.

 

[snowflake]

However, this is the same hen that I thought SPRAINED her leg cuz she was holding it up, and I could not find anything wrong... It took near 2 weeks for the bumble to finally show...

OK not it,,she is holding it out behind or under her, kind of curled toes,but will put them around my finger if I put my finger under her foot. Maybe I will go down and massage her hip a little then afternoon, doesn't put any weight on that side

 

[snowflake]

very interesting? I saw someone on craigs list doing that, $15 a share and I thought she said 1 gallon of milk a week, The cost of driving to were she was would cost as much or more then the milk, sure would like to try some real fresh goats milk and cow for that matter, I was so tempted to buy one off of craigs list last week but I need to learn more about the care and feeding first. I think I could handle a goat, not sure about a cow.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Hi all, it's been a while since I last posted. The symptoms of my disease has kicked in pretty bad lately and I have had to make the decision to sell off my flock. If anyone is interested in the following please pm me.

3 Delaware hens [1 year old]
3 EE hens [1 and 3 years old]
5 Black Austrolorp hens[14 weeks, 1 year and 2 year olds]
1 Jersey Giant hen [1year old]
1 Black Ameracauna hen [lays a pretty blue egg when she isn't broody, 1 year old]
2 Black Copper Marans pullets
1 splash Olive egger pullet
2 Delawegger's, still not sure on sex. These are a cross between a Delaware and EE