The Old Folks Home

[Wisher1000]

Ut-oh.

 

[Wisher1000]

Wisher i dont have any garlic. I know a place going toward enterprise al that has a sign that says fresh garlic for sale. We are planning to stop and see what they have sunday. My dw found day old silkies and polish chicks in enterprise (hatched the same day as our terrible hatch). She is forcing me to integrate those into my cool chicks flock. I hope she never sees a turken naked neck mutant thingy.

I hate to hear about your hatch, but shipped eggs are frustrating. Your first hatch was unusually successful, and I know the shipped batch was disappointing, but most people have terrible first few hatches (until they get the hang of it.) Don't stop! It takes years to really get good at it, heck, I had a dismal first hatch, 0% hatched, but I was in a hatch-along and got a prize for worst hatch rate! Keep hatching your own or local eggs until you feel like you got this.

On the garlic, I think I might get some from a pasture up the road.. I know the owners of the property and I am sure they won't mind. First, though, I need to read up on it. I don't even know if you eat the bulbs from under ground or that grow on top of the tall stalks...........

 

[bamadude]

Stopping at the place with the garlic is going to be my favorite part of the trip. What will i tell my drinking buddies when a silkie or polish strolls by?

 

[Wisher1000]

Tell them that's the old lady's bird!

 

[vehve]

Stopping at the place with the garlic is going to be my favorite part of the trip. What will i tell my drinking buddies when a silkie or polish strolls by?

Say your featherduster grew legs.

 

[bamadude]

Tell them that's the old lady's bird!

she wants a breeding pair of each color. I told her we wouldnt know the difference. She said "ok so if we get 3 of each, we will have a better chance. Shes started her chicken math...

 

[ronott1]

she wants a breeding pair of each color. I told her we wouldnt know the difference. She said "ok so if we get 3 of each, we will have a better chance. Shes started her chicken math...

silkies do not count according to chicken math. They are not chickens, they are "Therapy Animals" and are thus exempt.

 

[bamadude]

Say your featherduster grew legs.

my brahmas are pretty big. They are sort of like rottweiler chickens. The mail man blows the horn instead of getting out. Silkies are like mini french poodle chicks

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I just got my first game/trail cam by UPS today. It's a Bushnell X-8.
I also have more traps being shipped. I'll have an old hav-a-hart, two dog proof leg traps, three #110 and one #220 conibear body traps and 12 mink size snares.
With the game cam and the baby monitor I should be able to find out exactly what's going on and be trapping for what's lurking.

Oooh do keep us posted and happy hunting!

Wisher i dont have any garlic. I know a place going toward enterprise al that has a sign that says fresh garlic for sale. We are planning to stop and see what they have sunday. My dw found day old silkies and polish chicks in enterprise (hatched the same day as our terrible hatch). She is forcing me to integrate those into my cool chicks flock. I hope she never sees a turken naked neck mutant thingy.

Turkens are amazing cute and wonderful creatures. Open your heart.

On the garlic, I think I might get some from a pasture up the road.. I know the owners of the property and I am sure they won't mind. First, though, I need to read up on it. I don't even know if you eat the bulbs from under ground or that grow on top of the tall stalks...........

Just make sure to get garlic that grows well and not wild stuff. You harvest the underground bulbs. The things that grow on the stalks are called scapes, and you cut them off (and cook with them). Letting them go to seed reduces the size of the bulb in the ground. Hence, why we cut them off. Garlic is one of the easiest crops to grow. Plant the bulbs pointy end up in the fall. They'll sprout and start to send up green stalks. Here in Maine when fall hits I cover them with about an inch or two of mulched leaves that my lawnmower mulches. Last year I forgot and it didn't make a big difference. The winter will hit and up here the garlic dies, and the ground is frozen many feet deep and has a ton of snow on it for 6+ months. In the spring when the ground thaws and the sun returns the garlic starts to send up shoots again (uncover the mulch at this point, although I don't think it matters if you don't) and you just let it grow. I fertilize it once it gets about a foot tall with some compost thrown into the bed. Other than that, let it grow and keep it weeded. Cut the scapes off when you see them. At some point in the growth cycle the growth will slow down and the green stalk will start to brown and fall over (like bulb onions if you're familiar). At this point the garlic is ready to harvest. Pull it up, hang it to dry. Replant in fall.
Up here we purchase hardneck garlic because it survives the winter better and stores well. This is my favorite kind: http://www.burpee.com/vegetables/ga...r-prod002399.html?omn2pd=bz&catId=2018&trail=

 

[chickisoup]

BamaDude!

Welcome back! I guess you can tell we missed you. Try to behave, will ya'? We'd like to have you stick around for a while, hear?

Speaking of sharing plants, do any of the Old Folks have any hardy garlic that you would be willing to share? I have some Hostas to spare, but they are best sent in February. I don't know about garlic, but I think it grows well around here and I use a lot of garlic when I cook, so I thought I'd try some.

Sorry Wisher, would be glad to help but we only grow the hard neck variety up here in the Nort' Woods. You're far enough south to grow the soft neck variety. You are aware that all you really need do for your own little crop is buy a bulb or two from the grocery store, break em apart, pick out the biggest cloves and shove em in the ground! Up here we put out garlic in the ground a few weeks brefore the first freeze. Think you plant yours in the spring? That is unless you are high enough in elevation that your ground freezes in the winter.

Oh, buy organic raised garlic if you can. Then you know for sure the bulbs havent been sprayed with anything tho I am honestly not sure how the non organic farmers grow theirs.

ETA - "wild" garlic is not culinary garlic (the kind you cook with). As for the scapes, they can also be dehydrated and ground into a lovely version of garlic powder. Absolutely great in cooking!!!