Nevadans?

[NevadaRon]

I don't have a picture of the Rocket Mass Heater we are building but that is another project.

I can't wait to see it! I just looked that up on Google - I need one! I don't have a wood burner in my new place and I really miss my old one, but this seems so much better!

I think that is about it for today. I am tired and the brain is not firing on all cylinders. I am trying to think of a ay to protect the drip system from the rabbits out at Kathy's. She says they will chew the emitters and the 1/4 inch line to get to the water. They don't mes with the 1/2 drip line. I was thinking of slipping 1/2 inch line over the 1/4 inch line so the rabbits can't reach it. or a wire cage sort of thing or even a metal tube that will slide over it so they can't chew it. If anyone knows of something that works I would appreciate it.

Yeah that's a toughie. I first thought wire cages but that seems too labor intensive and costly for every emitter. If they are drip emitters then maybe used tin cans bent around the emitter but with the opening still there for the water to drip through and onto the plant roots? For this to work you would need soil berms around each plant fortified by stones to keep the rabbits from knocking them down. That will keep the water over the roots of the plant.

And you are right, you do look a little hard in that photo and you (and your whole family) are so sweet. That pic doesn't show that at all though.

I'm out in the same sort of area as Kathy. I planted about 30 trees last year and set up a drip system for them. I mostly had to put chicken wire around each tree to keep the rabbits from chewing the trees. But I also added drips to a couple of existing trees and the rabbits chewed them off right away. So I put chicken wire over the emitters and no problems since. Just stuck it into the ground and that was enough to discourage them.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Here is just one from last year. We have been out at Mythkats house twice in two days and forgot the camera both times. I really want a before photo but will have to ask Kathy to get it if it is going to be got this year.


That there is also me. My t-shirt and blue jeans. about all you will ever see me in. I'm a little nicer than I look though. in the background you can see the top of our chicken pen. our entire back yard was full of these plants. no grass nothin we devoted it all to tobacco or tomatoes. This was pretty early in the season and eventually the tobacco got so tall you would not have been able to see the pen.

Here is a picture of my Kenya Top Bar Hive.


I am working on one of the normal lookign ones but it is not ready for it's close up yet.

As for the soap. I am hoping we can all be using fine soaps for the cost of cheap ones. Not looking for savings but an increase in what we get for the money spent.

I don't have a picture of the Rocket Mass Heater we are building but that is another project.

I think that is about it for today. I am tired and the brain is not firing on all cylinders. I am trying to think of a ay to protect the drip system from the rabbits out at Kathy's. She says they will chew the emitters and the 1/4 inch line to get to the water. They don't mes with the 1/2 drip line. I was thinking of slipping 1/2 inch line over the 1/4 inch line so the rabbits can't reach it. or a wire cage sort of thing or even a metal tube that will slide over it so they can't chew it. If anyone knows of something that works I would appreciate it.

I never realized tobacco was such a beautiful plant! Thanks for the pics!

 

[americanvalkyrie]

I think that is about it for today. I am tired and the brain is not firing on all cylinders. I am trying to think of a ay to protect the drip system from the rabbits out at Kathy's. She says they will chew the emitters and the 1/4 inch line to get to the water. They don't mes with the 1/2 drip line. I was thinking of slipping 1/2 inch line over the 1/4 inch line so the rabbits can't reach it. or a wire cage sort of thing or even a metal tube that will slide over it so they can't chew it. If anyone knows of something that works I would appreciate it.

No advice here, though the metal tube sounds like a great idea. I'm just reminded how thankful I am to have a solid wooden fence around my yard. About the only thing that gets in are raccoons, birds, and neighborhood no-goods with no-good intentions. (I love my dogs.) A few years ago, I lived in an apartment that was up against a hill in south Reno. The manager let me garden the 4x10' strip of dirt beside my apartment. Boy, was that an education in rabbits! We spent so much money on repellants which DON'T work, including a very expensive solution at Moana Nursery that is basically pigs' blood mixed with oil. I wish I had read the label on that before I had spent money on it. The only thing that finally worked was building a very unattractive bird-netting fence around the whole bed, but I finally got a few pumpkins to grow. We had tons of rabbits growing up, but they never touched our garden. Again... I love dogs.

When Tater was a puppy, we kept her from chewing on things by spraying Pam on them, then coating them with cayenne. I also dump cayenne all over my garden whenever I find something has munched on my crops. But whenever I watered, I'd have to resprinkle. A metal tube would last a LOT longer than the buckets of cayenne you'd need.

 

[chicharomirinda]

Penturner, your various projects are looking good!

You'll have to let us know how your soap turns out. Nice that you can work the land at Kathy's.

Well, I was very busy today. I finished the nest boxes and made quite a lot of progress on the run. It was so windy but I think tomorrow will be colder so I wanted to get a lot done today. I got the 2x4's and hw cloth apron around the bottom of the run. And I got the 2x4s at the middle height (3 feet) fastened around as well.
Here are the finished nest boxes. My mom brought me some old glass eggs to put in them.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Penturner, your various projects are looking good!

You'll have to let us know how your soap turns out. Nice that you can work the land at Kathy's.

Well, I was very busy today. I finished the nest boxes and made quite a lot of progress on the run. It was so windy but I think tomorrow will be colder so I wanted to get a lot done today. I got the 2x4's and hw cloth apron around the bottom of the run. And I got the 2x4s at the middle height (3 feet) fastened around as well.
Here are the finished nest boxes. My mom brought me some old glass eggs to put in them.

Lookin good Elizabeth!!! You have been making some great progress! It looks like starting wednesday we are gonna have quite a bit of weather moving in so it's great you got so much done this weekend. I guess Mother Nature is finally gonna start to catch up.

Just a thought. If your girls lay on the glass eggs will they crack? (the chicken eggs not the glass eggs).

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Has anyone raised leghorns? Right now we're taking turns looking through the Meyer catalog, marking the breeds we want to try. My daughter and I love the spots of the exchequer leghorns, but all of the white laying breeds say "skittish" or "flighty." I'm not sure if that's something I even want to bother with, when I can have some docile brown layers and a less colorful basket.

After seeing Elizabeth's pics, though, I know for sure I'm getting some wyandottes!

 

[chicharomirinda]

the glass eggs are hollow and very light weight so I don't think so. they feel as light as plastic.

Lookin good Elizabeth!!! You have been making some great progress! It looks like starting wednesday we are gonna have quite a bit of weather moving in so it's great you got so much done this weekend. I guess Mother Nature is finally gonna start to catch up.

Just a thought. If your girls lay on the glass eggs will they crack? (the chicken eggs not the glass eggs).

 

[SunnyDawn]

OK I didn't have time to look it up earlier but just did since Ron's reaction was so postive. I have to admit these things are really awesome! Although I think passive solar heat would work well in this area if you are building a home from scratch this is a fantastic alternative for existing homes and for rooms that don't stay warm enough. They look super easy to build (although the nicer ones look like folks spent quite a bit more time on them).

Can't wait to see pics of the finished product Daniel! Are you using a bench for the heat-exchanger/thermal mass? I think these would be better looking than the wood stove we have now plus you aren't losing that whole part of your room! A large part of it becomes part of the furniture (or floor)! I'd never heard of these before today! Very cool, er, hot.

 

[SunnyDawn]

the glass eggs are hollow and very light weight so I don't think so. they feel as light as plastic.

Oh good. It really looks great. You've done an amazing job!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Has anyone raised leghorns? Right now we're taking turns looking through the Meyer catalog, marking the breeds we want to try. My daughter and I love the spots of the exchequer leghorns, but all of the white laying breeds say "skittish" or "flighty." I'm not sure if that's something I even want to bother with, when I can have some docile brown layers and a less colorful basket.

After seeing Elizabeth's pics, though, I know for sure I'm getting some wyandottes!

I had leghorns as a kid and I do not remember them being flighty at all but that is what most folks say about most of the mediteranean breeds that are bred for laying production. Although I had very easy-going leghorns (they were definitely my pets at age 9-10) I'd be hesitant to order them from a hatchery or breeder that didn't breed for temperament at all. Of course I've had the opposite happen as well. I've gotten flighty birds from a breed that was supposed to be docile.

I wanted a couple of white egg layers as well so I will be interested on what others have to say on this subject as well. What about Buttercups? Anyone know of a great breeder of white egg layers that breeds for temperament? Well I mean besides the Polish I am getting from Pam. I'm talking about production breeds that lay eggs for market. We will use up the polish eggs ourselves.