What did you do in the garden today?

[Molpet]

I was curious to know if these industrial totes are food safe. This is what I found out. The totes I purchased are stamped with Plastic Recycle code #5 PP (Polypropylene).

My understanding is the dye might be an issue..... that said I just read a review that claimed the sandwich size bags had chemicals leaching issues... except Ziploc brand. Of course I assumed they all would be safe and have a ton of store brands.

 

[Tahai]

I got sucked into an Ancestry project, so haven't been on the chicken forums since early February. Too many pages to read to catch myself up. Hope everyone at least has the weather to get out and do some yardwork. For those of you actually putting things in the ground and seeing things flowereing and greening up, PICS PLEASE!

It's been a glorious few days in upstate PA, with daytime temps in the high 60's. I took yesterday off of work and continued my battle with the multiflora and the grapevines. I've got one side of the yard tamed for this year. The multi-flora is just starting to bud out - I figure I have another week (maybe 2) before it leafs out and makes removal more difficult.

Unfortunately, according to "Ryan Hall Y'all" on youtube, the weather is going the opposite direction of how I want it too for the next couple of weeks. There's even a possiblity for an April Fool's snow storm (ugh). Hopefully we just get rain, but we've had ice storms in June, so nothing surprises me.

I'm fighting the urge to plant seeds - it's still too early for the things I plan for this year. I'm also fighting the urge to work my gardens - also way to early and I don't want to destroy my soil structure. Memorial Day is the safe (for the most part) time to plant in my area. That's a long ways away.

Which is why I am begging our southern friends for PICS PLEASE

 

[Minanora]

Today I watered my seedlings, put the seeds that are germinating out in the raised bed "hoop house", looked at all of my garlic scallions, looked at all the onion tops, peered over at the sugar snap peas, looked at the heads beginning to form on the broccoli plants (this was pretty exciting since last year got really hot early and they bolted quickly), picked some kale for the chickens, picked some swiss chard for the chickens, ate some of the swiss chard before I got to the chickens, watered my poultry forage patch, watered my sprouting dutch white clover ground cover (yeah it may not be native but it will keep the weeds down. I've been hand scraping weeds with a hula hoe to bare dirt for the last 10 years while I eradicated the gopher population with gopher hawk traps, time for a change!), and I also walked down the fruit trees and observed the peach leaf curl that I didn't spray for in time last season. Got a bee tangled in my hair as I walked past the apricot tree, but I was able to get her out without getting stung or hurting her. Huzzah!

On Tuesday I had my overgrown mulberry trees pruned and decided to keep the chippings since there were such large branches to make mulch with. It generated far more mulch than I anticipated.... I had about 6 cubic yards of mulch. I live in town, so I had to make it go away as quickly as possible to avoid the city bothering me. I spent many hours yesterday moving all of the mulch to my landscape garden, grape vines, and around my fruit trees. Little did I know, my son's cold, I had caught already. So today I'm posted up on the couch with a fever and cough. Good and sore from shoveling mulch yesterday, so that makes me feel a little redeemed for 'sitting around' all day today. Though I'd rather be outside working!

I need to take way more pictures of my garden/yard. Too much of the camera roll is dedicated to chickens and tropical fish.

 

[Minanora]

My understanding is the dye might be an issue..... that said I just read a review that claimed the sandwich size bags had chemicals leaching issues... except Ziploc brand. Of course I assumed they all would be safe and have a ton of store brands.

We banned most plastic use for food stuff and production in our home this year. Due to chemicals, not just BPA, but the other chemicals, nano and micro plastics. I still use some plastic but I try to limit it as much as possible without being labeled as insane by my husband. My husband has to go through security with his lunch tupperwares out in their own bin because they're stainless steel and the x-ray machine at work can't see through them. Lol.

I have black trash bags in one of my garden beds right now due to a bad case of root knot nematodes being treated and it drives me bonkers. I'm considering removing the soil that touched the plastic before I plant things in there again. I can't buy commercially produced strawberries now. I recently was out on a job working in a strawberry field and was reminded of all the plastic that they grow in. Not to mention all of the plastic waste I saw being tilled into the soil being used for other crop rotations. Brutal reality. Plastic is almost absolutely everywhere you look. Not even safe shopping at farmers markets! Just maybe a tiny bit less plastic, tiny bit less.

Is it actually negatively impacting my health? Not really sure. Do I already can and process a lot of my own food anyway? Yes, indeed. I'm just going to keep on doing things as sustainably as I can. I mean, my neem oil comes in a plastic jug.... Where do you decide to draw the line you know?

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

We don't have Menards in CT.

So excited, I got out & did some gardening (barefoot!) on this beautiful day.
I amended the top 3 tiers of my GreenStalk with some perlite & worm castings & got lettuce & spinach planted. That's as much as I could do, still recovering from surgery & on no bending, lifting, twisting or reaching for 7 more weeks. Felt good to get some Vit D before the rain comes back tomorrow.
I caught a wren trying to make a nest in the top waterer of my GS, glad she didn't get too far because I had to evict her. I felt bad & left the cover off so she doesn't come back. Will have to remedy that situation somehow.
View attachment 3766943

Last Friday was a beautiful day in CT. Today is even better!!! Yey! Time to finish building the second coop and get these raised beds ready!

 

[Molpet]

We banned most plastic use for food stuff and production in our home this year. Due to chemicals, not just BPA, but the other chemicals, nano and micro plastics. I still use some plastic but I try to limit it as much as possible without being labeled as insane by my husband. My husband has to go through security with his lunch tupperwares out in their own bin because they're stainless steel and the x-ray machine at work can't see through them. Lol.

I have black trash bags in one of my garden beds right now due to a bad case of root knot nematodes being treated and it drives me bonkers. I'm considering removing the soil that touched the plastic before I plant things in there again. I can't buy commercially produced strawberries now. I recently was out on a job working in a strawberry field and was reminded of all the plastic that they grow in. Not to mention all of the plastic waste I saw being tilled into the soil being used for other crop rotations. Brutal reality. Plastic is almost absolutely everywhere you look. Not even safe shopping at farmers markets! Just maybe a tiny bit less plastic, tiny bit less.

Is it actually negatively impacting my health? Not really sure. Do I already can and process a lot of my own food anyway? Yes, indeed. I'm just going to keep on doing things as sustainably as I can. I mean, my neem oil comes in a plastic jug.... Where do you decide to draw the line you know?

Yes it's in the snow in the artic and in the Mariana (sp) trench. They tested a few umbilical cords and every one had micro plastic.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I finished cutting and installing old roofing panels to raise the height of the garden bed that gets inundated with water from the giant puddle above my property. I started tossing cardboard into it to knock down the overgrown grass and weeds before adding twigs, branches and aged chicken bedding. Then I’ll top it off with fresh garden soil. I got the new garden gate installed. I need to add about 6 more feet of dog wire before checking that off as done. I covered it with chicken wire for now. The good news is this warm weather the past few days has not stimulated the asparagus yet. I have some repairs to do on that bed. DD stopped by and helped me move 4 bags of garden dirt and 3 bags of mulch so I will be able to load them on my dolly to drag to where they need to be. They are super soggy and will likely be even soggier (and heavier) after the rain that’s moving in tonight. Regarding the micro plastics, I’ve mentioned this before on this site that I was working on cutting back on using plastic. I’m replacing old plastic containers that I use for food storage with glass containers. It’s really hard to just stop using it altogether but minimizing it as much as possible is a first step.

 

[gtaus]

My understanding is the dye might be an issue..... that said I just read a review that claimed the sandwich size bags had chemicals leaching issues... except Ziploc brand. Of course I assumed they all would be safe and have a ton of store brands.

There is no shortage of things to be concerned about. I just offered the Plastic Recycle code #5 PP that was stamped on my plastic bins, and that category of plastic is supposed to be food safe.

We banned most plastic use for food stuff and production in our home this year. Due to chemicals, not just BPA, but the other chemicals, nano and micro plastics.

I am not a big fan of plastic, either. It's just that plastic is so much better for some situations. For example, I reuse plastic peanut butter jars to hold misc. nuts and bolts, screws, etc... out in the garage instead of glass jars which would break and shatter if dropped on the cement floor. That's a good second life for those plastic jars.

I recently purchased a big plastic jar of carmel corn because I wanted to use the jar to hold my zip ties later. The jar is tall enough to hold up to 11 inch zip ties. Plus, it's big enough to hold all my zip ties in one container.

Well, that, and I like carmel corn...

Is it [plastics] actually negatively impacting my health? Not really sure.

I'm not sure about that either. Sometimes I think the act of "worrying" about potential negative effects of using plastic causes more cancer than the plastic or dye itself.

At any rate, I'm only saying that the government and/or recycle community states that Plastic Code #5 PP is food safe. Personally, for me, that's enough for now.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I made a hut for my goose. He thought he was helping me as I was pounding nails. When I was done, he was inspecting the hut, and trying to pull nails, I think because he thought he was working on the hut.

 

[gtaus]

DD stopped by and helped me move 4 bags of garden dirt and 3 bags of mulch so I will be able to load them on my dolly to drag to where they need to be. They are super soggy and will likely be even soggier (and heavier) after the rain that’s moving in tonight.

A number of years ago I purchased a 4-wheeled Gorilla-like cart (different brand) to replace my old single-wheeled wheelbarrow that needed new parts. I really like the Gorilla carts much better. You can haul much more weight, much easier, with the 4-wheeled carts. Plus, with my 4-wheeled carts, the manual handle converts to a tow behind hitch for use with a riding mower...

Goggle picture...

Anyways, I now have 3 of these types of carts of various sizes and material (one is wire mesh). For me, they are worth the extra money. They are much safer for hauling the material I deal with all the time. No worrying about tipping the load like with a single-wheeled wheelbarrow.

Regarding the micro plastics, I’ve mentioned this before on this site that I was working on cutting back on using plastic. I’m replacing old plastic containers that I use for food storage with glass containers. It’s really hard to just stop using it altogether but minimizing it as much as possible is a first step.

I think glass is better for storage of food, too. I don't think I can eliminate plastics in my life, but I make small steps to reduce my plastic usage where I can. I don't like how so much plastic finds it way into the oceans. I have seen too many documentaries about floating plastic islands out in the ocean. That cannot be good for us.