What did you do in the garden today?

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Fried green beans! Batter with your favorite frying batter or tempura batter. You do need to use fresh green beans. I must try this in the air fryer.

 

[jerryse]

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Cushaw is very good and makes amazing pumpkin pie.

 

[jawilliams509]

Where, or how, do you guys plant your squash plants?

In my backyard, I have all my raised garden beds spaced out nicely so that I can drive my riding mower between them and cut the grass. This year, Dear Wife got an Upo plant (white gourd) and wanted to plant in one of my raised beds. She said that it would grow like a squash and spread out.

Since Upo is a tropical plant, I thought it would be no big deal and probably would not grow out very much here in northern Minnesota, zone 3b. However, to my surprise, that one plant has grown out over 40 feet on the ground from the base of the plant in the raised bed. That means I can no longer mow the grass with the riding mower.

Long story short, I had to take out my little Ryobi 18v 12-inch electric mower to mow around the raised beds. I used the bagger on the mower to collect all the grass clippings, which I toss into the chicken run to feed the chickens fresh greens and the grass not eaten gets turned into compost. By the time I finished mowing around the raised beds, I had filled my 10 cubic foot garden cart with grass clippings. That is a lot of mowing for a 12-inch mower!

Would have loved to post a nice picture of that 10 cubic foot mound of grass clippings I dumped into the chicken run, but my composting chickens had it leveled out flat in about 5 minutes! Even though some of my chickens are too old for good egg production, they still earn their keep in making compost for my gardens.

If you don't use your chickens to make compost, I believe you are missing out on their most valuable contribution to your homestead. We sell our excess eggs and that pays for the commercial feed bill, which is about $15 per month for me. But the amount of compost I harvest from the chicken run amounts to hundreds of dollars every year in cost savings of compost that I no longer buy in the big bags at the big box stores. All that great compost feeds the raised beds, which feed the plants, that produce food which feeds the family. So, yet more savings which all started from those composting chickens.

To show my appreciation for all their work, I tossed them some overripe tomatoes this afternoon when I was harvesting some of my cherry tomatoes. My chickens love those tomatoes. One hen will pick up a cherry tomato and run around the chicken run with 4 or 5 other hens chasing her trying to take it away. Good exercise for the old girls and lots of entertainment for me.

Your gardening life will be a lot easier for you if you can have your garden next to your chicken coop and run. When I pull weeds from the garden, I just toss them into the run for the chickens. They eat almost everything. Overripe food or damaged food gets tossed to my chickens before it ever gets into the house. Saves me time and effort. And, like I have already mentioned, I harvest the chicken run compost and use it directly in the garden beds right next to the chicken run. No more hauling compost all over the property to add to the gardens. Although I still have a few plots of garden at the other end of my property, almost all my gardening has been moved to raised beds by the chicken coop and run. It just saves me so much time and labor and, at my age, I can really appreciate my new setup next to the chickens.

Here is a quick picture of my backyard setup of chickens and raised garden beds...

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Every year I have been adding about another two pallet wood raised garden beds. Plants are looking a little worse for the wear this time of year, and the chicken coop is the process of repainting and getting some new trim, so that will look better in a few weeks. That tarped contraption in front of my chicken coop is my cement mixer compost sifter. Again, everything right next to my coop and run, saving me all kinds of time and effort. The compost sifter stays there all summer long but will be moved behind the coop for storage before we get winter snows.

Love your setup!

 

[gtaus]

Wait, that's not 100% true - I am on city sewer and do flush the toilet! But my local waste treatment plant does compost the solids after treating it with a UV system, baking it at high temps, and then making it available for free to anyone who drives up to their shed to fill their buckets. So I guess I couldn't say everything I use could be certified "organic", but I could possibly claim I use all the organic material we produce.

I live out in the country, on a lake. I have a septic system which we get pumped out about once every four years. The pumping guy told me that they dump the sewage out on a farmers field. After a few years, they are allowed to let cattle graze on that land. A year or two later, they can grow people food on that land. Evidently the sewage helps build up better soil for the farmers, plus they get paid for the rental period that they cannot graze cattle or grow food on that land. Sounds like a good deal for the farmers.

 

[JedJackson]

Can you send me the recipe for your homemade green bean casserole. I would love to try it.i don'y

Can you send me the recipe for your homemade green bean casserole. I would love to try it.

I don't have the recipe as the lady brought it to my house. I only saw her make the fried shallots for the topping, and then put the dish in the oven. I'm assuming she made everything from scratch and used all fresh ingredients. It was very good. The shallots weren't soggy like those fried ones you buy in the store.

 

[akroberts1085]

I don't have the recipe as the lady brought it to my house. I only saw her make the fried shallots for the topping, and then put the dish in the oven. I'm assuming she made everything from scratch and used all fresh ingredients. It was very good. The shallots weren't soggy like those fried ones you buy in the store.

Okay. I will have to get my book found for homemade cream of mushroom soup and make sure all of the ingredients are all fresh and organic. Like my garden is.

 

[akroberts1085]

I live out in the country, on a lake. I have a septic system which we get pumped out about once every four years. The pumping guy told me that they dump the sewage out on a farmers field. After a few years, they are allowed to let cattle graze on that land. A year or two later, they can grow people food on that land. Evidently the sewage helps build up better soil for the farmers, plus they get paid for the rental period that they cannot graze cattle or grow food on that land. Sounds like a good deal for the farmers.

My dad said that he worked as a dishwasher and the cook would always urinate in a bucket with water in it and use it as a fertilizer. My dad said he had the best herbs and veggies.

 

[akroberts1085]

Fried green beans! Batter with your favorite frying batter or tempura batter. You do need to use fresh green beans. I must try this in the air fryer.

I'm going to maybe see about making some the same way as my squash fries.

 

[akroberts1085]

How do you get rid of ants in the garden and in the house

Buy a box of grits. Don't water the garden and make sure it's dry. You can sprinkle them on the garden and on the floor in your house. Grits swell in water and since ants have to get water after eating they die because ants don't fart.

 

[JedJackson]

Okay. I will have to get my book found for homemade cream of mushroom soup and make sure all of the ingredients are all fresh and organic. Like my garden is.

There may be a good recipe online. I'm sure that is where she got it.