Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[RaZ]

Looks great! I'm so far behind on my gardening it's ridiculous . . . if you ever decide to move up this way, I should rent you part of my house Randy, lol. You would probably whip my yard right into shape.

And thanks for the MAEAP info. I will check it out when I get a chance. Who knows - I may need it the way things are going with the anti-farm movements.

Rent? I counter-offer with live-in care taker. Just a room big enough for me and the dogs and cats. Of course, I'd need a separate pole barn for my stuff.

MAEAP is currently a voluntary certification now, but with a governor mandate of 5000 farms by 2014 it could become something else entirely down the road. In any case it is a set of good sound practices for protecting our environment. That is a big reason that I am working for it.

 

[RIRJen]

If you mean me (misch=mish?) I'm still lurking around. I went chickenless over the winter. Now I'm raising bobwhites for release. And couldn't resist 4 chicks and 2 guineas from Family Farm a couple weeks ago. And picked up some broody Silkies that decided to unbroody themselves - so are now for sale.

hoping to find homes for them at chickenstock or before. All show quality hens - 2 white, one buff and I believe an already presold partridge. $15 each or the 3 for $36. Don't really want to haul birds unless I know I won't be returning home with them.
I hope rbahmer is still around, I really enjoyed visiting her last year.
I look forward to seeing all the familiar faces and new ones in just a couple more weeks. I guess I should add myself to the attendance list.

Mish, I'm going to at least take that partridge...if the other ones aren't presold I'll take a looksie at them too
Robin is definately still around! Heading to spend time with her this saturday!

Quote: oops, thought I cleaned that up when I moved the body

....my bad

 

[RaZ]

Robin is definately still around! Heading to spend time with her this saturday!

If you go on Friday, you can see M2M.

Aren't I the busy-body gossip today?

 

[ladyrsanti]

Rhubarb envy, you know you has it.

I froze two gallon freezer bags full yesterday AND made some rhubarb crisp. There's still more out there too. Good year for rhubarb.



The ladies helping me with some asparagus beetle larvae. It was a really bad infestation this year. Good work ladies! There are almost none left (with a little help - they couldn't reach the upper branches so I had to shake them down).

 

[Wrightsx4]

Hi everyone! Hi lady! Do you still have your wheatens, curious how they turned out. I ended up with two, a male and a female. I made rhubarb sauce today for icecream...yummmm. I can't grow it no matter what I do, but my 11 year old grows it like a jungle 25 feet away.

 

[SillyChicken]

I got my garden planted!!

Not an easy job since I had to wait until our new puppy finally took a nap! Having lots of fun with Otis.

Have a mystery.. found a huge puddle of blood in my garage. Some under the camper and a few drops here and there, front and back yard. No bodies of any kind. Ran around looking for all my chickens and found no one injured, or dead. Had to be dead with all that blood. Waited until everyone was roosted and saw no one missing or injured. Everyone alive this morning. So.... where did all that blood come from?? Looked around for an injured animal or dead one, but can't find one. It's just creepy. Garage door was open, so anything could have come in. Just creepy. Both my cats are safe, too. Bunnies are ok. Hmmmm...just creepy.

thats crazy.......were you able to find a trail in and out of your garage? Cause..... it could still be in the garage.. just looking a place to hide and die. Got a dog or a friend with one you could let explore the space? I use mine to help me track wounded game.. (deer and critters). just a thought.......

 

[1muttsfan]

Heavy applications of well-rotted horse manure work wonders on Rhubarb - this big leaf came in at 32"x34", big enough for an umbrella. The stalks are huge.

 

[Wrightsx4]

If rhubarb requires manure to flourish, maybe my DD's rhubarb is benefitting from runoff from the main garden (chicken coop compost).

 

[Wrightsx4]

My other rhubarb is in fairly sandy soil within the strawberry beds.

 

[Opa]

Silly asked what do I spray my trees with and several hours ago I typed a response. Before I could hit send I was called away from the computer and then got busy with other things. When I came in for a coffee break I found it waiting and hit send only to have it disappear into cyber-space. So once again.

Before the trees bud I spray with Volck oil spray. This is to take care of the over-wintering bug, larvae, and eggs that have secreted themselves under the bark.

The next spray is not until after the blossoms have fallen. You don't want to risk killing the bees as they are preforming the vital task of pollinating your trees. I use Ortho Orchard Spray which is a pesticide, a fungicide, and a miticide. This will handle most insects and blights. I saturate the trees thoroughly making sure that the underside of the leaves are sprayed as well. I then re-spray after every heavy rain or every two weeks.

It is always good to have a plan for most things you do and when that plan works it is a wonderful thing. When it doesn't work it can be horribly frustrating. Case in point. Hope's oldest son has a motor that he is shipping off to have work done on it. I had helped him secure and crate it for shipping. I had it weighed so freight charges could be computed and then asked Roy to co- ordinate with the shipper and if they called me I would meet them at a shopping center where we could transfer the 420 lb crate from my trailer onto the the lift gate of the semi. That way traffic wouldn't be blocked on my road and the semi driver wouldn't have to drive a mile to turn the semi around.

Every was supposedly set up that way. The shipping ticket was quite clear, the only down side was they couldn't pin the time down much beyond 12-5 and that the driver would call first. Several tasks I had hoped to complete today would require running motors that would preventing me from hearing the phone so they would have to be put on hold. I wished it was more precise on the time but I would deal with it.

Finally a little before 3pm a large semi pulls in front of my house blocking traffic. The truck has no lift gate or any means of getting a 420lb crate from my trailer into the back of the truck. I asked the irritated driver if he had read the shipping order and of course all he looked at was the address. Evidently his dispatcher didn't look at the shipping order either. Now I will have to wait around tomorrow and hopefully someone will read the shipping request to the dispatcher.