Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Sally PB]

OhGood, you haven't fallen for the coffee grounds chicken bedding fad.

I saved coffee ground for a gardener friend, thought she put them on her tomato plants.

Oh, no, not for the chickens.

I want to cover my blueberry bed with about 6" of grounds. I've been putting grounds around the 6 existing plants, the soil is getting some texture besides just sand-sand-sand.

I enlarged the bed by 50% to add 3 more plants. Wow, that soil sure needs some help. I've been piling oak leaves there, but 3 inches down, it's sand. I'm going to put a good bit of compost, peat moss, and coffee grounds in the holes when I plant the new bushes.

 

[1muttsfan]

Might be a good idea to add some good quality garden soil as well. All of those amendments will eventually decay, leaving behind just sand. To really improve sand you need some actual dirt in there as well.

 

[Folly's place]

It is right now 45F and raining, and there's a very small and thin tree frog (spring peeper) on the window outside my lower level computer/ office.
.The spring peepers have been screaming for love for weeks, and this is my first actual sighting!

 

[1muttsfan]

I can hear the tree frogs off in the distance the last few nights. I'm not sure if we have peepers or not, I've never seen any and most of the noise sounds like tree frogs.

 

[RaZ]

Tree frogs, spring peepers and chorus frogs have all been calling here. Uncovered a blue spotted salamander yesterday.
This morning I heard a phoebe then finally spotted it going from tree to tree.

It's been pretty noisy here what with the frogs, ducks, geese, roosters, and wood peckers drilling in trees. Much better sound than what I heard in the city. Dirt bikes and ORVs haven't started yet. Weekenders must be sleeping in.

 

[chickflick]

Where did everyone go??

 

[saysfaa]

Where did everyone go??

The garden. It is finally warm enough (intermittently), and dry enough (intermittently) to get serious out there.

And (a very mini) orchard is in this year Hurray!!
Two apples, two plums, and two peaches were picked up and planted last Saturday. Two pears will be picked up and planted next Saturday.

Also a line of white spruce. One jostaberry is home but not planted yet. It is in a pot so can wait a little better than the bare-rooted trees could.

And most of the black raspberries are trimmed.

Weeds have been coming out of the garden and seeds going in on the nicer days for a couple of weeks. I think the price of food is going up for at least the next year or so. So the more the garden can produce, the better.

I came in to recharge the phone battery so I can keep listening to a book on tape while I'm out there.

The chickens are pretty happy, they are getting all the Japanese beetle grubs I can find. I want to spring clean the coop but it can wait better than the plants can. At least the pool noodles and are down and the big doors are opened to let some of the dust blow out.

 

[snowflake]

I was told by msu once when I had a soil sample done, use coffee grounds for blueberries. I always put them on the roses

 

[Sally PB]

I was told by msu once when I had a soil sample done, use coffee grounds for blueberries. I always put them on the roses

I went to Lowell to go shopping, so stopped at Starbucks and got 2 more big bags of grounds. I plan to stop every time I go through town.

The young man who carried out their pail to my car for me last time was there, and remembered me. I told him I'm keeping a pail in my car from now on, just for this. Oh, and I'll be back on Wednesday.

Two months from today is ChickenStock! I think I'll be bringing "crock pot burrito." It's GF and easy to make and keep warm. I just need a place to plug in.

I won't be bringing a rooster to give away, obviously; Darl died several days ago. I miss seeing him with the girls, I miss hearing him crow. But I realized yesterday that I don't miss him. I can sit out with the girls, pet them, hand feed them treats, go into the coop and clean, whatever. No big orange thing to peck my feet or my hands. RIP Darl; you were a butthead to me, but you were good to the girls.

 

[RaZ]

Where did everyone go??

Well let me think...
Had a long weekend. Did some tractor work on Friday. Mostly drilling holes for fence posts and a French drain at the foot of the driveway. Moved some compost and cleared up some leaves. Cut and split firewood.
Saturday saw vehicles moved out of the garage so I get get the old car out. Took the car to town to fill up the gas tank. Ouch! Premium fuel is very expensive these days. Then drove to the hardware store for a few items needed for some repairs.
Made another run to the hardware store on Sunday to get a couple of things that I forgot the day before. Car is running beautifully. She has winter dust all over and in need of a good wash and wax before show season. I was going to do that but a buddy stopped by so doing chores was replaced with drinking a few barley pops. A thunderstorm rolled in and I had to get the vehicles back in the garage before the heavy rain hit. That pretty much ended the day.
I was so tired that I turned in around 8:00. I didn't even close up the coop. Door was open all night but all poultry survived the night. I haven't seen any predators around for a couple of months but I still don't like leaving the door open.

Buddy and I took a ride to the lake. Frogs were calling and I even heard green frogs and bull frogs croaking. Kind of early for them but it was 75 degrees here yesterday. I saw lots of butterflies and a few dragon flies. Looks like spring is finally here.