What did you do in the garden today?

[Sequel]

Gave my girls another hour of foraging in the yard tonight. When it was time to go back into the run, they responded to me telling them "Go on, go back in". And that's just what they did. I guess chickens can credit understand verbal commands. I think. LOL

I think chickens understand a lot more than they are given credit for. It’s just that they aren’t dogs and don’t have the need to please gene! I’ve had a few that knew their names. They wouldn’t necessarily come when called, but you could tell they understood I was talking to them and not the Flock in general.

 

[gtaus]

I don't know if there is a wrong kind of wood for hügelkultur, but the older the wood the better it seems to act like a sponge.

Also, treated wood might have been treated with insecticides you don't want leaching into your soil. Pallet wood with the HT stamp is safe, but some other ways of treating it are not. You probably know more than me about the different stamps on pallet wood, but just had to mention it. Really old, spongy wood might be safe even if it's treated, because the harmful chemicals might have leached out of it after a few years.

 When I was referring to wrong kind of wood, I meant natural tree wood (pine, spruce, oak, etc...) that I might have cut down out in the yard. I have never used processed lumber - treated or not - in my hügelkultur raised beds.

But thinking about it, I don't suppose there is any reason not to use untreated lumber or heat-treated pallet wood as a filler in raised beds much like rounds cut from tree trunks. I don't think treated lumber has the toxic chemicals in it for many decades now, so I would not be afraid of using that for the raised bed itself, or for a filler as hügelkultur wood. In the year and a half that I have been picking up pallets, I have yet to come across a MB stamped pallet - the kind that used toxic chemicals to preserve the wood. All my pallets have been HT stamped - heat treated and non-toxic.

If someone is trying to get the "organic" label on their produce, I think the standards are much higher. I just grow regular food to eat, not "organic" food to their standards. Although I attempt to keep any chemical products out of my food by using natural chicken run compost and not using chemical fertilizers. I am not opposed to someone using bagged chemical fertilizers, I just chose not to as my plants seem to be doing fine growing with the chicken run compost.

 

[gtaus]

Glad you can manage [wearing a mask].
You don't know me personally, or my medical issues. So I'll leave it at that.

You are right. I don't know your medical issues and did not mean to offend.

In my defense, I was referring to "you" in general terms not specifically you as an individual. I probably should have used the term "a person" to be more accurate in my meaning, and making the statement more general in nature. You can see in the next line that I was thinking about myself and my nursing classmates that might have been uncomfortable wearing a mask at first, but over a short period of time, we got used to wearing a mask and did not even think about it. Although it was clear in my mind what I meant, I can see where my words might have been taken otherwise. Thank you for calling me out on it. I need to be more careful with my words.

 

[gtaus]

I am kinda curious as to what summer has in store as Perth last year wasn't really hit with a peak day. Just felt like weeks of high 30s nothing too severe. As much as I'm glad the cold is gone, its days like today that makes me miss it.

Had to read that twice to understand it once! Most of us Americans are thinking of temps in Fahrenheit, not Celsius. So, when you mentioned summer with weeks of high 30s, I incorrectly assumed 30 F, not 30 C. Big difference! Good thing I saw you live in Perth, Australia, and was able to reorganize my thoughts.

FWIW, I have lived in many countries that were on the metric system. I wish we would drop our old Imperial system in the USA and just go with the metric system. In healthcare, it's all metric for medication dosages. That makes it easier to do the math.

 

[gtaus]

I use regular house fans because they are generally cheap to buy. However after replacing no less than 8 - 10 of them, I was going to upgrade to actual barn fans that are used in poultry houses around here. Just haven't bought it yet.

I know the barn fans made for dusty environments are more expensive, initially, but they are supposed to last much longer and be much safer for use in things like a coop. I have read in many places that a lot of coop fires are started by a house fan filling up with dust, clogging up the motor, and the motor overheats and starts a fire.

I have windows on both sides of my coop for cross ventilation, so I have never needed an exhaust fan. But I am pretty sure that I would spend the extra money on a good barn fan that would last longer and be much safer than the typical house fan. Mostly it's the safety issue I would be concerned about. Cheap house fans are easy to replace.

You can get some nice barn fans with auto control features for not too much money....

 

[karenerwin]

@Sueby

It is very weird. I'm outside a lot. If hawks were targeting them, I'd have noticed because my chickens are often out too. And I'm certain they weren't attacked by dogs, foxes, coyotes, etc unless it was early morning between dawn and 7 am. It's just like they disappeared in mass. Very strange... I never thought I'd be concerned about the LACK of squirrels but here we are....

They are all at my house! The chipmunks too.

 

[gtaus]

Raised beds no longer work for me. Bending at that height is the worst, it's actually easier to bend all the way over (& I know that doesn't seem to make any sense, lol, but it's true). Anything that doesn't grow on a trellis will now be planted in a greenstalk (onions, strawberries, lettuce, peppers). All squash, beans & tomatoes will go in trellised raised beds. I don't want to give up gardening but my back will never be good so I gotta do what I gotta do.

Early this past spring, I met an elderly couple that was picking up pallets to make raised garden beds. I asked the guy how high he makes his raised beds. He told me that his wife just had hip surgery and could not bend over at all, so he was making these pallet wood beds the full height of the pallet. That's about 43 inches high! He must have seen the surprised look in my eyes, as he quickly added that he had a nice tractor with a front bucket, so filling the full height pallet wood raised beds would not take any time or effort for him.

You do what you gotta do...

& don't even get me started on the docs not giving pain meds...I had a friend with terminal brain cancer & they wouldn't even give her pain meds. Last time I saw her alive & out of the hospital she was downing straight tequila rocking back & forth in pain. She was TERMINAL. Broke my heart.

I'm sorry to hear that, but, unfortunately, not at all surprised. When people don't get the healthcare they need, they resort to self-medication for pain management. It is heartbreaking to be part of a system that you know is failing so many people. We need to do better. Answers are not always easy. I only dealt with a small part of the issue.

 

[CNJ]

After a while people living near the park came in to buy live traps to catch chipmunks.

I told my local pet store supplier they would sell more feed if they sold or gave away live chicks, and they could do it with free advertising on Craigs list. It's called a lost leader like Costco's roast chickens. However, in my area its cheaper to buy a Costco roast chicken than it is to raise your own meat birds, so if they are going to do something like that it would be better to do it with egg layers.

 

[jerryse]

I told my local pet store, supplier they would sell more feed if they sold or gave away live chicks, and they could do it with free advertising on Craigs list. It's called a lost leader like Costco's roast chickens. However, in my area its cheaper to buy a Costco roast chicken than it is to raise your own meat birds, so if they are going to do something like that it would be better to do it with egg layers.

This was a thing when I was growing up. Buy feed and get free chicks. They were Leghorn cockerels which were dirt cheap. People would raise them to eat. Nobody wants skinny fryers now.

 

[pennyJo1960]

@pennyJo1960 - do you buy the coffee grounds or are they yours? If so how do you dry them? I'm very interested, DH drinks a LOT of coffee & I have a stinky bird right now so deep bedding isn't working as well as it always has. Was thinking of spending the big bucks on hemp to try, but wondering about coffee grounds.

Hey! We have a coffee shop on the way home from Chehalis.
Stop there most often grab some.