Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[gladahmae]

I

Does anyone know where I could get a couple heritage turkeys here in MI? I'm trying to find bourbon reds, but would also take royal palms or midget whites. We only want 2 or three for butcher and cant find anyone to split an order of 15 with. Any ideas would be wonderful!

I've seen all those on craigslist.

 

[mattsinger]

Does anyone know where I could get a couple heritage turkeys here in MI? I'm trying to find bourbon reds, but would also take royal palms or midget whites. We only want 2 or three for butcher and cant find anyone to split an order of 15 with. Any ideas would be wonderful!

I know our Big Acre in Davison usually has them, bourbon reds, when they get birds in

 

[chickwhispers]

eatwhatyougrow, morans. marans. What a Moron! And to think I almost won the 4th grade spelling bee. At 66 years of age the brain can send any kind of message to the typing fingers it thinks you might want. Moo Maa Moe! Sorry!! Thanks for the spelling correction and hand spanking.

I too am one of those morons who spend more just to get the pretty dark brown eggs!

Quote: Oh yesss indeed! But soon >>>

Once again our starts with falling snow. Will ot ever end?

Yep!!!! Again...Soon....

Glambka, congratulations - your eggs are so lovely, good to hear they are being recognized.

Yes so pretty!! And @glambka

Not much excitement over here. Yesterday i got excited and thought since the sun was out i'd shovel out the run... i quickly learned it was futile lol. I have a foot off the ground ice trail through to their door!

. So i settled for a trail to under the camper so they could maybe get a dirt bath. Yesterday it was beak and nail trims for the indoor birds, today is nail trims for camper birds.

So much work!!! I tried to shovel our deck which looks similar!

Here is what my ducks left me this morning. I have quite a rainbow.

Very pretty! and Welcome to BYC!

That's a good idea to use sawdust...I never thought of that either. I'll have to try it.

I've used my own sawdust from my projects using kiln dried wood. However I only use very small amounts. It is way to dusty. I've also used peat moss, but that tends get clumpy and packs down. I have mixed kiln dried shavings, leaves, saw dust and peat moss with my straw so no one part is too much expense or dust etc. I've also mixed those minus the straw for winter dust bath. stays pretty dry, not as good a the dirt, but when all else fails, it's good for short term and the girls seem to like it ok.

Was just on back porch. Roo is crowing. This will be his last morning to crow as he is going to camp in 2 hours. Got him one day old in the NHR PULLET bin last March. First bird I've had to send to camp. I am bummed. But his attitude is simply too aggressive .. & when he was young he was SO docile. Making DH take him...

Bye bye Roo....

Back in the day when he was "nice"...(he's about twice that size now!)

Awww!

I need to think about spring today. NEED.

soft-neck garlic: worth it, or wait and plant hard-neck garlic in the fall? (I think that's how those work?)

For my veggie garden I'm planning on: green beans (and purple ones), tomatoes, bell peppers, pickling and slicing cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, and my kids are insisting on watermelon. I'm also going to be planing basil (LOTS of basil), maybe some thyme, sage, and rosemary, although those are't zone-safe. DH wants to do potato towers, and i usually throw down some radishes first thing in the spring. What else do I NEED to plant?

Might swing through town and get some seed starter and do some wintersowing this week. I have a lot of coneflowers, poppies, and lupine I want to plant this year.

Yeah!!!!

And Again 1 more time! SOON to BE.....

So many posts but I will stop here! It's so hard to keep up when one misses a day or two or three....

 

[Living the Simple Life]

I need to think about spring today. NEED.

soft-neck garlic: worth it, or wait and plant hard-neck garlic in the fall? (I think that's how those work?)

For my veggie garden I'm planning on: green beans (and purple ones), tomatoes, bell peppers, pickling and slicing cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, and my kids are insisting on watermelon. I'm also going to be planing basil (LOTS of basil), maybe some thyme, sage, and rosemary, although those are't zone-safe. DH wants to do potato towers, and i usually throw down some radishes first thing in the spring. What else do I NEED to plant?

Might swing through town and get some seed starter and do some wintersowing this week. I have a lot of coneflowers, poppies, and lupine I want to plant this year.

I too have been using my garden planning to get through this last stretch of winter...my garden is similar but no beans or summer squash (I am the only one who will eat them

) I will also plant eggplant, acorn squash, butternut squash, pumpkins (pie and jack o'lantern); more dill, cantelope...I am also contemplating trying to plant strawberries in rain gutters. I have been reading up on it and am really intrigued by the idea. I had planned to try it last year but didn't do it. Now I am glad as I don't think they would have survived the cold even heavily mulched. DH and I would like to do a lot more of our garden vertical...just haven't quite figured out which configuration is going to work best for us...decisions, decisions!!

I have no problem growing thyme and sage here in the southern part of the state. Basil does well as an annual. I have only ever had success with rosemary as a potted plant...with success being a very general term

 

[Amy PT]

I need to think about spring today. NEED.

soft-neck garlic: worth it, or wait and plant hard-neck garlic in the fall? (I think that's how those work?)

For my veggie garden I'm planning on: green beans (and purple ones), tomatoes, bell peppers, pickling and slicing cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, and my kids are insisting on watermelon. I'm also going to be planing basil (LOTS of basil), maybe some thyme, sage, and rosemary, although those are't zone-safe. DH wants to do potato towers, and i usually throw down some radishes first thing in the spring. What else do I NEED to plant?

Might swing through town and get some seed starter and do some wintersowing this week. I have a lot of coneflowers, poppies, and lupine I want to plant this year.

I'm planning this year's garden, too. We've had fun growing our own carrots here. The kids get a kick out of pulling them. In addition to what you listed, we'll be planting peas, lettuce, and chard. I'm giving up on brussel sprouts and broccoli this year. They've never thrived here.

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Does anyone know where I could get a couple heritage turkeys here in MI? I'm trying to find bourbon reds, but would also take royal palms or midget whites. We only want 2 or three for butcher and cant find anyone to split an order of 15 with. Any ideas would be wonderful!

You can try Cedar Creek Hatchery. I think you can order 5 poults. I sold him some of my birds I got from Porter's in Indiana a few years ago

 

[RaZ]

I guess Hobbes really does follow Calvin everywhere....

Well in this case Hobbes doesn't follow anyone really. She was basically a one-legged bird with a kickstand.
Calvin went to camp because he was getting much too aggressive. Hobbes went because the more I thought about, the more I realized that she wasn't going to survive with her crippled body.
How is this for Monday moaning? Coming back from Munsell's and my truck starts having transmission issues. Got home alright and the truck up to the tranny shop. The best I can describe it is as a "hot smell" and loss of power.

Once home, I notice the furnace isn't coming on like it is supposed to. I pull the cover, do some checking and it seems that the blower motor is stuck. I fiddled with it and got it unstuck and the furnace fired. It just sounds like an old Rambler with a bad fan belt. I'm hoping it is just some dust or debris that I can vacuum or blow out. No more house canaries for me!
On the bright side, city workers were clearing the snow from the vacant house next door and they accidentally spilled some salt on the ice dam in my driveway.
I guess that no matter how cloudy it gets there is almost always a ray of sunshine.

 

[Trefoil]

Does anyone know where I could get a couple heritage turkeys here in MI? I'm trying to find bourbon reds, but would also take royal palms or midget whites. We only want 2 or three for butcher and cant find anyone to split an order of 15 with. Any ideas would be wonderful!

Try http://www.bestfarmbuys.com/classifieds/bycategory.php?state=MI
That's where I found bourbon reds in past years.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

@gladahmae

Today I set out one dozen heavily seeded "Outhouse Hollyhocks" that I bought from Seed Savers last year. I also have Lupine waiting. Today I saw Hollyhock roots for sale at Meijer... I was a bit shocked to see that.

 

[1muttsfan]

A flock of ducks just flew by. They must not have gotten the memo about the Straits being completely ice bound this winter - there is no open water for miles. Wonder what they thought of the paraskier that is tooling around out there? Or the snowmobile superhighway across to the Island?