NY chicken lover!!!!

[wny egger]

i think coppers considered a heavy metal, isnt it .

...anyways i have seeds from a guy who brought them from itialy as well ..they are a heart shaped tomatoe ..pinkish in color, the leafs are much diffrent then the normal toms you find around here ..i love them ..they make the best sandwiches and very little seeds to them ..i've been growing them about 20 yrs now ..i also keep the seeds each yr ..crop rotation is a must in my opinion ..my uncle used to own a greenhouse and my family worked it for yrs ..we used to sell alot of african violets..but also sold many veggies and fruit trees ..i think the best part about growing my own tomatoes is they really taste like a tomatoe..these things they sell in the stores today, for an outrages amount of money, have no taste to them at all..straight organic ferts here ..i use some fish but am starting to get away from using them .i read the fish emultion carrys mercury from the fish they harvest for it. i also use guano blood and bone meal ..no mircle grow here ..my wife uses it for her flowers but has started to move away from it as well..i use neem oil for some bug control ..

 

[Beer can]

I don't use miracle gro anymore but what you usually find is high in nitro. They do make it in 10-30-10, high in phosphorus I believe the middle number, for flowering/fruiting. Manure works just fine for me. I dig a hole for the tomato plant, put in a good shovel full of rabbit manure, about four inches of potting soil on top, and then the plant, cover with dirt. Never have a problem with it burning them that way. I put ten wheel borrow loads of old chicken manure dirt mix (cleaned out coop before we got new chicks) with 55 gal barrel wood ashes in a hilled row. Two big pumpkin plants, six pie pumkin plants and four butternut squash, same thing layer of potting soil first then plant except I covered these with potting soil. Too many squash to count, eight big jack o laterns and sixty three pie pumpkins!! The chickens are eating pie pumkins now.

 

[Glasshen]

Love this garden talk, makes me think the snow won't last forever. When I plant tomatoes I put a little Epsom salt in the soil and some crushed up egg shells then mix them around. Last year my t plants were doing great, all 60 of them, six varieties, then they started to wilt. I harvested every green or unscathed tomato I could, then pulled up all the plants, and bagged them and the rotted tomatoes, sent them off to the garbage heaven. That was a garden than had never had a crop in it, but had been getting fertilized for more than a year. Chicken manure and coop cleanings. The plants had huge strong roots, I think from the egg shells and Epsom salts. I have three rows of potatoes in another garden, have harvested one row, and will dig out the rest when we need them, they are under straw...and snow now. They are very healthy. Think I may try the copper next year, thanks for telling about it.

I canned the green and partially turned tomatoes, and they are deliscious. The recipe was called Dilled Green Tomatoes. Yum

I have been out and the roads are sloppy, wet, and wires are hanging low. Will take the hoard some food so they can squabble over it.

 

[Beer can]

Try slicing the green tomatoes thin and pickling them with bread and butter sweet pickle mix. Im not a sweet pickle fan but those are great on a ham and cheese sandwich, or by themeselves, crispy.

 

[Glasshen]

Yum!

 

[wny egger]

oh yeah yummm...i've been making a pepper relish out of hungarian hot peppers with yellow musterd .its sweet with a little bite...i use it on everything from burgers and dogs to chicken as a marrinaide..its real good on pork steaks as well.

those pickled toms sound tasty ..


.
man all this garden food talks got me hungry..

 

[JLaw]

I do have a question.

My chickens in This coop. (Pic is from past years)



Have been running across the yard and hiding under this "Not used" coop. Anyone know why? I have had trouble with a squirrel getting in the above coop. I've mentioned the problem I've been having with squirrels but they've not been a bother of late.

I know this a day or so old but looking at the pics the bottom one looks like there is no snow drift along the fence so I'm guessing the wind is coming from the other side of the fence. There maybe less draft there and on top of that it is a small area so they can heat it easier than the tall hoop coop. I wouldn't move it if they go there and lay just remove the lattes from the side to make it easier to get eggs. Far easier than moving the whole coop. Just some ideas.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Ive been invaded by chickens ...


Cat toys I am going to sell ..

 

[Pyxis]

It's been rough few days over here, with a huge loss, a rescue, and a power outage. I have just lost my last remaining grandparent, my grandmother, two weeks after I lost my grandfather. I know that this is not an uncommon thing for people who have lived together so long and suddenly one is alone. It's still hard though. I was going to email her pictures of all the chickens here to cheer her up, but before I could she was in the hospital and she passed away yesterday.

I also went out last night after dark to shovel off my back deck, because we were afraid the weight of the snow might collapse it, and I looked out over the yard and to my horror, the roof of the muscovy pen had collapsed in under all the snow and buried my drake and duck. It is a small miracle that they were where the were when the roof collapsed, because instead of being crushed, they were pushed right up under the roofing material and snow against the side of the pen, where a tiny gap was left. There was just enough room that they were pinned and couldn't move but not crushed under the weight of the snow and roof. So I dug them out and put them in the main coop until spring, when they will move into the completed legbar coop. In the light of day they are fine and have no injuries, and are dealing well with being thrown in with all the other birds. The drake wandered over to greet me today while I was out feeding them. He was stuck the most badly and I think he realizes that I saved them.

And of course on top of all that, our power went out today, AFTER the storm. Go figure. I have an outdoor coop full of chicks, but I didn't lose any thank goodness. I think in part it's because the had the good sense to hide under the adult birds in there until the power came back. I did lose some eggs in the incubator - the ones closest to hatching, strangely, and my first two eggs from a new project I'm working on. That was disappointing. It looks like the others made it, though, which is good. I managed to keep the temperature at 96 degrees in there using hand warmers, and it seems like that was enough.

 

[Metella]

So sorry about your grandma ... can we get together Saturday around 11 am or something ? I am snowed in and have one car and DH takes it to work - so I can't really meet M-F now until he can help shovel out the drive ... nearly gave myself a heart attack shoveling off the coop yesterday -so the drive was out of the question .... but both you and Bakin can use some cafe time !!!!

I think you need some good old fashioned venting to friends !!!