I used to order frozen feeder rodents shipped in bulk that came via Greyhound bus. They took up to 5 days in transit, so they were loaded full of dry ice. One time I picked up the two boxes and left them in my van for a few hours, and then took the van on an errand. After a couple of minutes, I was wondering why the heck I was breathing hard and feeling light headed! I realized it was the CO2 from the dry ice, rolled down the windows and felt much better. I couldn't smell or feel anything wrong with the air in my van.
I could easily see a box of small animals asphyxiating if the carrier was a moron and put a box with dry ice in the same truck. Or it could be that someone shipped an unmarked box with it, which is against the law. Dry ice is considered a hazardous material and all boxes must be marked. Some people even use dry ice to euthanize feeder rodents for snake food, although if the ice is too close in proximity to the animal it burns the lungs and is not a pleasant way to go.
CR and I have had a couple of pretty good chats during the time he was up here. One of the things we chatted about is how, if people don't understand the situation others are in, it is easy to make snap judgments about others here on the forum. Feelings get hurt. It doesn't end up being a positive place for anyone.
So, I thought I'd share a little bit about the yard situation I live with. I know I have had my feelings hurt on more than one occasion about critical remarks toward people who don't or are unable to grow large edible gardens. I have worked very, very hard to have the itty bitty garden that I now have. I have four 4'x4' square foot gardens, one 4'x10' asparagus bed that grow well. I have attempted to grow other plants without them being in the raised beds and they do not survive in the ground. I have studied permaculture for 4+ years and dream that someday I'll have land that will support that dream. Until then, I will continue to try to make do with what I have.
My entire 10,000 sq. foot lot is on what is known as glacier till. Basically, we live on gravel. We live on a cliff. A very large and well known gravel company mines about 1 mile down the road.
Here is a picture of a small portion of the gravel that I had to dig out of my four 4'x4' square foot garden beds. I would guess that this is only about 1/20th of the rocks that came out of those 4 small beds. The rest I have taken by wheelbarrow, load after load, and, with my neighbor's blessing, thrown over the part of the cliff that he owns. I got tired of loading and hauling the rocks over the cliff. That is why this pile still sits here. It is back-breaking, exhausting work to move rock in the quantities that we have.
I've been out in the front yard today trying to dig the rocks out of a front flower bed. I'm digging the rocks out, and amending the screened soil with chicken poop that I have collected in a garbage can. Here's a picture of the rocks that I have screened out of approximately 10 shovel-fulls of dirt. This should give you an idea of how rocky my entire land is.
Most of my neighbor's do not grow edible gardens. They grow grass, trees, rhododendrons and azaleas. They think I'm a little crazy for even trying. They walk by and remind me that I can dig all the rocks out and the rain is just going to cause more rocks to rise to the surface. They are probably right, but I'm stubborn, and I'm going to keep on trying.
We have trucked in top soil in hopes to get things to grow better. We have discovered that top soil that comes from the valley tends to be clay, and clay sitting on top of gravel creates flooding issues. I have spent hours upon hours trying to remove clay top soil from an area that now floods heavily on my side yard. The pictures in this post of my blog will give you an idea of what the flooding is like for a little bit of rain. http://www.imaginationgarden.blogspot.com/2009/04/building-raised-beds.html When we get a lot of rain, we get a lot of flooding - the whole side area where my raised beds are will completely fill in with water. And water has been known to spill through the vent and beneath my house.
In the first picture above, you can see a drain pipe that I now have to install in hopes to get the area to stop flooding. We can't rent a ditch witch, because it can't dig through our glacial till - so I'm going to have to dig the trench, the same way I dug an 18' x 1' x 2' deep trench through our front yard, to get it to stop flooding. The way I dug that trench was by hand - with a pick ax and a shovel.
So, I thought I'd share so you guys could see why I don't have a large garden - and why, what little garden I have takes a ton of work just to get it to grow. I'm going to continue on doing what I can to create the yard and garden that I dream of - which is why my blog is called the imagination garden. I can imagine the garden - I just have to get the rocks and soil to cooperate with my imagination.
Wow! Your soil looks just like mine! Our landscaping plans slowed down dramatically once we started digging. We're planning deep raised beds for veggies next spring, and we're doing a mini retaining wall filled in with compost and decent garden soil in a steep area in which to try some blueberries. Sigh... fortunately, chickens don't care. As long as there are bugs and good places to scratch, aesthetics don't matter to them!
My BF just brought over the two Leghorn eggs and they really are teensy tiny! I hope they get way bigger. Here is a pic of one of them alongside an EE egg my friend gave me. Admittedly, that green egg is the largest chicken egg I've ever seen. My hands are pretty small, just so you have an idea. We're going to eat the two tiny ones later tonight. Can't wait!!! We have been getting eggs from our flock since spring but these are the first two that my chickens laid.
I am done catching up with three days of posts! Man this thread is chatty!
Welcome to the new people!
And I am sorry about those that have had losses of loved ones. Animal or human.
I am going to bed early and try to get a good nights sleep. I haven't had one in a few nights. And no I haven't called my Dr.'s office to find out what she recommended. I have been busy and keep forgetting to do it before they close for the day.
That is on the list for tomorrow.
As well as Ogress is being the ultimimate enabler and selling me her Hobavator Genesis tomorrow.
And I have two new additions to the family. Meet Bunnie and Clyde!
Clyde
Bunnie
Clyde is getting fixed tomorrow. I do not need any baby bunnies! Especially since they are brother and sister!
Have a great night everyone!
CR and I have had a couple of pretty good chats during the time he was up here. One of the things we chatted about is how, if people don't understand the situation others are in, it is easy to make snap judgments about others here on the forum. Feelings get hurt. It doesn't end up being a positive place for anyone.
So, I thought I'd share a little bit about the yard situation I live with. I know I have had my feelings hurt on more than one occasion about critical remarks toward people who don't or are unable to grow large edible gardens. I have worked very, very hard to have the itty bitty garden that I now have. I have four 4'x4' square foot gardens, one 4'x10' asparagus bed that grow well. I have attempted to grow other plants without them being in the raised beds and they do not survive in the ground. I have studied permaculture for 4+ years and dream that someday I'll have land that will support that dream. Until then, I will continue to try to make do with what I have.
My entire 10,000 sq. foot lot is on what is known as glacier till. Basically, we live on gravel. We live on a cliff. A very large and well known gravel company mines about 1 mile down the road.
Here is a picture of a small portion of the gravel that I had to dig out of my four 4'x4' square foot garden beds. I would guess that this is only about 1/20th of the rocks that came out of those 4 small beds. The rest I have taken by wheelbarrow, load after load, and, with my neighbor's blessing, thrown over the part of the cliff that he owns. I got tired of loading and hauling the rocks over the cliff. That is why this pile still sits here. It is back-breaking, exhausting work to move rock in the quantities that we have.
I've been out in the front yard today trying to dig the rocks out of a front flower bed. I'm digging the rocks out, and amending the screened soil with chicken poop that I have collected in a garbage can. Here's a picture of the rocks that I have screened out of approximately 10 shovel-fulls of dirt. This should give you an idea of how rocky my entire land is.
Most of my neighbor's do not grow edible gardens. They grow grass, trees, rhododendrons and azaleas. They think I'm a little crazy for even trying. They walk by and remind me that I can dig all the rocks out and the rain is just going to cause more rocks to rise to the surface. They are probably right, but I'm stubborn, and I'm going to keep on trying.
We have trucked in top soil in hopes to get things to grow better. We have discovered that top soil that comes from the valley tends to be clay, and clay sitting on top of gravel creates flooding issues. I have spent hours upon hours trying to remove clay top soil from an area that now floods heavily on my side yard. The pictures in this post of my blog will give you an idea of what the flooding is like for a little bit of rain. http://www.imaginationgarden.blogspot.com/2009/04/building-raised-beds.html When we get a lot of rain, we get a lot of flooding - the whole side area where my raised beds are will completely fill in with water. And water has been known to spill through the vent and beneath my house.
In the first picture above, you can see a drain pipe that I now have to install in hopes to get the area to stop flooding. We can't rent a ditch witch, because it can't dig through our glacial till - so I'm going to have to dig the trench, the same way I dug an 18' x 1' x 2' deep trench through our front yard, to get it to stop flooding. The way I dug that trench was by hand - with a pick ax and a shovel.
So, I thought I'd share so you guys could see why I don't have a large garden - and why, what little garden I have takes a ton of work just to get it to grow. I'm going to continue on doing what I can to create the yard and garden that I dream of - which is why my blog is called the imagination garden. I can imagine the garden - I just have to get the rocks and soil to cooperate with my imagination.
WoW Ren! Sorry you have such a huge rock issue! Man! I thought there was a lot of rock here in the Valley, I grew up in Grandview just a few miles from where I live now, it is on the old Yakima river bed, we used to joke that we grew rocks not plants, but, there were still area's that weren't nearly as rocky as others so we only had to pick SOME rocks! When we were building fence with my dad he bent I don't know how many fence posts, and his favorite saying was "ROCKS FIRST" one, because we needed to stabilize the post and two because we had so many stinkin rocks it was ridiculous! I totally feel your pain! Now that we moved back, we are only about 10 miles away and the soil is so much different! There is very little rock, and the soil is good. I have been researching how to make a green house for little money and I found a way to make one, not really huge with stock panels! You take like three stock panels and put them together hoop them and put green house plastic on it and viola! It's cool!
This is what I tell my grown children when they have a task that seems insurmountable ready?.......just keep swimin, just keep swimin, just keep swimin swimin swimn!!! You can do it! Congrats on all your hard work! and keep your garden dream alive! It's better to have a small garden and be able to feed your family some, then have to depend on the stores for all you food! Good for you!
WOW! over 8500 pages in the Washingtonian forum, we rock this chicken thing (well, technically not me yet, I haven't received my backyard babies yet)! I was able to read the first few pages, and the last few pages, but there was a lot in the middle I didn't have time to catch-up on
I was very sad reading a few posts, but so grateful you were able to share. Newbies like me need all the info we can get, the good, the bad & the ugly
I am in the South Puget Sound's very own Tac Town. We just moved back home from Des Moines, IA. What a place! People were amazing, weather, not so much. We came back home to be with my family, we all just had to go through the worst thing imaginable. My brother, 32, committed suicide May nobody ever have to go through that ever again.
My dog was my best friend when I was told the news 1,600 miles away. I didn't think dogs cried until then, he just leaned against my shoulder and bawled with me :0) such a sweetie-poo. My old boss had a golden-doodle that got preggers by the Australian Shepherd that jump the fence, he said "Ya want a dog?!"
^^^ Isn't he gorgeous! Anyway... I should have posted in Random Ramblings! We are a family who just adores living creatures, they are just so much more sincere than people. One day we will have that farm, but for now, we are stuck in a good sized lot in the city. WE! I keep talking about us and y'all just don't have any idea who "we" are! There are 7 of us total, Hubs & I with our 4 boys (yes, four of them) and our little Ellie, who turned a year last month, poor girl...all those boys! Our dog's name is Raider and we have a chinchilla names Scarface, she was the runt and had her ear clipped by a sibling, poor dear. So that's us in a funky nut shell!
Wow! Your soil looks just like mine! Our landscaping plans slowed down dramatically once we started digging. We're planning deep raised beds for veggies next spring, and we're doing a mini retaining wall filled in with compost and decent garden soil in a steep area in which to try some blueberries. Sigh... fortunately, chickens don't care. As long as there are bugs and good places to scratch, aesthetics don't matter to them!
I'm on all glacial till on a steep mountainside as well. I try and build a raised bed or 2 each year so my garden is slowly growing. We put a retaining wall on a hill for blueberries; they are not very productive. I have an orchard as well. For it, I had to hire a fairly large tractor digging thing as no one was able to dig much of a hole with a pick and shovel. The tractor thingy had a bucket at one end and scooped out large holes that we filled with topsoil I had trucked in to plant a fey scrawny bare root trees. Some of the trees took off and are doing well, but most are stunted, still the same size they were 9 years ago. 1/3 of the trees died, and I replaced those with more blueberries. Those blueberries are thriving. I totally regret spending some many thousands of dollars on a failed orchard.
For the raised beds, i had to line them with landscape fabric as my imported soil worked its way down through the rocks the first season.
The good thing about glacial till is it is an excellent base for septic drainfields.
Does anyone here have experience with meat goats? I have the opportunity to get a portion of a billy goat for a good price. Apparently he's a big sucker, maybe 200 lbs. Do billies have good meat? Anyone have good recipes? I've had cabrito, but I know that young goats are much more tender, so I don't even know if an adult billy goat is worth cooking.
Quote: I like the raised beds too. My soil is also rocky and it makes it hard to dig up and til., Tends to break the tiller!
I fenced in my raised bed, and turned it into the silkie pen. I do have a very small raised bed that my DH put up for me. I only planted lettuce and tomatoes this year. But next year I hope to get a couple more going and have more produce. I do the best I can with the time and energy I have each year.
I do buy as much of my produce at the farmers markets around here though. It's great! I am between Woodinville and Duvall so I can hit both. Love to get fresh stuff and support the community of small farmers too. Works for me!
May nobody ever have to go through that ever again.
