What did you do in the garden today?

[Acre4Me]

Meat chickens! Picked them up today. I believe I ordered all male. Two strains (which is why some have a dot on their head- the hatchery inked one variety). We have had them before-YUM!!

They are settled in the outdoor covered pen. We made it temporarily smaller (so little chicks won’t get “lost”) by removing the wheels, doors, and back of at all cabinet and placing heat source and food/water inside this area.

Tentative butcher date is Nov 2-3, when they are 8 weeks old. Might be pretty cold by then…will have to wait and see!

 

[Ascholten]

I put the 13/14 week old pullet in the coop with the big girls. Judy(the pullet) is hiding under the coop ramp, devoid of all butt and tail feathers, but one.
I have GOT to figure out which *&^& hen is doing this. I have 6 full grown hens with NO tail or butt feathers. They'll freeze come winter if I don't cull the mean ass one.

Go out with a hand full of treats, let them all come running, you'll find out real fast which one is the nasty hen. Grab her by the neck, and a good spin or two and she's ready for the cutting block to clean up the meat properly for further food preparation. Just my opinion. I LOVE my birds but that is something I absolutely will not tolerate is one that is a bully.

They are replacing the entire panel. They said it will take 8 hrs. I don't think they can reuse the old breakers because of age. My house was built in 1989. All the wiring looks good though. I think we caught it in time.

Well, good job there, YES, you absolutely caught it in time. 30 minutes more and your house would have been burning. Ive seen this too many times to recount here., also
THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE !!!!!!!
No.. you DON'T need a tarnader to twirl your townhouse so it's pointin towards the interstate either !! People want to act like their house has to be about flattened before they make claims on their insurance . ...No, ~~~if you have a mortgage, they pretty much FORCE you to get the full coverage anyways so USE IT, you paid for it (dearly too!!) so don't be afraid to use what you already paid for. Pay your 500 deductable or whatever it is, talk to the guys doing the work, often times they can 'work that into' the cost so it's easier to absorb.... wink wink.

You'll have a brand new box, up to code, new breakers, and I bet you will see that things work better and you might actually save some money in the long run.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.


Aaron

 

[Acre4Me]

Electrical…we’ve replaced a panel in another home. It did not have any issues, but was known to have a higher incidences of problems, so the home inspector told us we should consider it. This was probably 14 years ago and it was around $1200 then.

Now, this home is about 40 years old. We are likely going to replace the panel and some wiring in the house. Electrician (certified commercial electrician, so he’s knowledgeable) has already re-wired and added wiring to the barn, replaced that barn panel, and the junction box to the barn a few years ago. Hard to say what that would have all cost since part of that work we bartered for (contractor offered the barter) with an old furnace we removed, which happened to be exactly the same model contractor had in a rental, and a large useable piece of carpet we removed that fit a room in another rental. I think the current estimate for the home re-wire and home panel replacement was estimated closer to 3k, due to cost of things going up, permits, and time.

 

[Sally PB]

Does anyone make worm hotels in buckets in their garden? A neighbor told me about it, and I'm trying it out.

It helps that I got ten food grade plastic buckets with lids for $15. I have plans to store dry goods in them in the basement. Ha ha, mice.

 

[Ascholten]

Ive had worm condo's in my ibc totes. for the most part I was able to keep the girls out with burlap bags and a good swat to the ass when they did get caught up there, the rats i was able to control with traps but the worms themselves will eventually want to get up and move elsewhere too unless you keep them WELL fed and keep the castings down too.

Aaron

 

[TJAnonymous]

Go out with a hand full of treats, let them all come running, you'll find out real fast which one is the nasty hen. Grab her by the neck, and a good spin or two and she's ready for the cutting block to clean up the meat properly for further food preparation. Just my opinion. I LOVE my birds but that is something I absolutely will not tolerate is one that is a bully.

Well, good job there, YES, you absolutely caught it in time. 30 minutes more and your house would have been burning. Ive seen this too many times to recount here., also
THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE !!!!!!!
No.. you DON'T need a tarnader to twirl your townhouse so it's pointin towards the interstate either !! People want to act like their house has to be about flattened before they make claims on their insurance . ...No, ~~~if you have a mortgage, they pretty much FORCE you to get the full coverage anyways so USE IT, you paid for it (dearly too!!) so don't be afraid to use what you already paid for. Pay your 500 deductable or whatever it is, talk to the guys doing the work, often times they can 'work that into' the cost so it's easier to absorb.... wink wink.

You'll have a brand new box, up to code, new breakers, and I bet you will see that things work better and you might actually save some money in the long run.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.


Aaron

Waiting for them to finish to see the entire bill. If it stays around the $1500, I may or may not submit to homeowners insurance. They already raised my rates several hundred dollars this spring. If the bill goes beyond the $1500, I will probably try to get reimbursed from insurance.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Does anyone make worm hotels in buckets in their garden? A neighbor told me about it, and I'm trying it out.

It helps that I got ten food grade plastic buckets with lids for $15. I have plans to store dry goods in them in the basement. Ha ha, mice.

We made an outdoor worm hotel years ago by putting a wooden box in the ground. We used the worms for fishing.

I really want to build a meal worm farm in stacked tubs but I haven't taken the time to get all the materials around to do it. I really really need to get on it...

 

[Ascholten]

mealworms are probably one of the easiest things to grow.
next time you get take out chineese, take the quart plastic jug, throw some oatmeal in there, throw some meal worms in there, a bit of lettuce, throw it in the fridge and there's your mealworm farm.

Ok, yah you probably are going to want to go a little better than that but just saying you don't have to get all fancy with them, they are stupid easy to grow and you can get by for really cheap prices, often times using 'free' stuff. When I raised bearded dragons and veiled chameleons I went, the raise your own meal worms route because crickets were pretty expensive and well.. they get stinky real quick too, the worms were a no brainer.

Aaron

 

[TJAnonymous]

mealworms are probably one of the easiest things to grow.
next time you get take out chineese, take the quart plastic jug, throw some oatmeal in there, throw some meal worms in there, a bit of lettuce, throw it in the fridge and there's your mealworm farm.

Ok, yah you probably are going to want to go a little better than that but just saying you don't have to get all fancy with them, they are stupid easy to grow and you can get by for really cheap prices, often times using 'free' stuff. When I raised bearded dragons and veiled chameleons I went, the raise your own meal worms route because crickets were pretty expensive and well.. they get stinky real quick too, the worms were a no brainer.

Aaron

A while back I came across this video about self sorting meal worm system. Love it... Already have the tubs and oats. Just have to put it together and the meal worms.

 

[Gammas Bearded Babies]

Have yall ever heard of the "amish method of preserving tomato seeds"?
I'm really Wondering if it works!
Or if i would end up with a mess underneath my house!
Just skip ahead to 5:30 minutes for method.