What did you do in the garden today?

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. As expected, just a little achy this morning. I will be taking more ibuprofen later. Rainy and chilly day doesn't help. That is crazy scary about your flour mill @WthrLady. I stopped at Walmart on my way home from my exercise class yesterday. They don't have starter soil yet. However, I did pick up some more seeds. Endive (the curley frissee stuff), marjoram and more oregano. We've had a lot of melting but the ice pack is not thawing all too quickly. Snow is in the forecast for Wednesday night. At first it was a coating, now 2 inches. Will just wait and see. Right now Saturday morning is forecasted at -5F. Brrr! I would love to trade all your mud for the 2 inch ice pack in my yard @karenerwin and @penny1960 . I spread pine shavings in the run when I get a little mud in there. Growing my own mushrooms is on my wish list @jerryse. I'm so jealous, I love mushrooms. Have a great day everyone.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Just came in from letting the chickens out for about 20 minutes. They've been cooped up for awhile. I threw some pine shaving on the icy trail from their run to the backyard. They slipped a little but their reward was nibbling on some green grass poking through the ice. Thought I would share some pictures. Some of you have mud to walk on, I have ice. Some of the local birds entertain me while I'm eating breakfast. They sit in the row of bird houses and watch me I guess. Then they just fly around like they are dancing. Very cute. While I was hanging with the chickens I refilled the wild bird's favorite feeder. The ice picture shows the sand I put on it. Enjoy.

 

[Farmdog267]

my mill just caught fire. OMG!
I am disappointed and ticked off. I'll call Nutrimill tomorrow, but dang it. I'm tossing a whole canister of flour too. No idea if any of whatever it is got in there.

Good grief. I've only made 10 cups of flour with it. (initial 3 cups of clean the new mill flour and 7cups of flour for bread)
ARGH.

Glad you are ok and you were able to get it outside before anything else was damaged! Hopefully the company makes the situation right!

 

[WthrLady]

They're replacing it this week.

 

[karenerwin]

I've tried putting shavings down in the run, but it just seems to make it more slick! My hubby is working on putting guttering up to run the rain & snow melt off the roof of the smaller coop and have it go into a rain barrel. Hopefully that will help a lot. As it is now I have several 5 gallon and smaller buckets set along to roof line to catch as much as I can. But often they overflow plus what isn't caught is enough to make a muddy mess.
Oh well, in a few months ( July) we will all be wishing for some rain to help our poor gardens!

 

[BReeder!]

I've tried putting shavings down in the run, but it just seems to make it more slick! My hubby is working on putting guttering up to run the rain & snow melt off the roof of the smaller coop and have it go into a rain barrel. Hopefully that will help a lot. As it is now I have several 5 gallon and smaller buckets set along to roof line to catch as much as I can. But often they overflow plus what isn't caught is enough to make a muddy mess.
Oh well, in a few months ( July) we will all be wishing for some rain to help our poor gardens!

Could you just dig a trench under the eave? I love the rain barrel idea. They are useless in winter though. I've seen them crack from the water freezing inside. That means you would have to drain them for winter and divert the water from the downspout somewhere else, which is where a ditch could come in. That way you can have free water for the garden Spring-Fall still have a solution for water diversion in Winter as well as heavy rains when the rain barrel/s may overflow.

 

[Farmdog267]

That is a sound idea!! ^^^

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Gardeners... Trench in a chicken run mine would dig it level... Try to move
mud from the pavers they put it back .. The pavers there are to help me walk ..
I gave up wasting shavings it can get so wet before they break down I cannot stay up
walking slide city

 

[BReeder!]

Morning Gardeners... Trench in a chicken run mine would dig it level... Try to move
mud from the pavers they put it back .. The pavers there are to help me walk ..
I gave up wasting shavings it can get so wet before they break down I cannot stay up
walking slide city

What about burying drain tile then and running the downspout diverter above the rain barrel to the drain tile?

Btw, drain tile is typically 4-6" diameter pipe that has holes in it that should face downward. It's usually used to collect water from around foundations but is also used to disperse water underground. You could even dig a pit at the end of the drain tile and fill it with milk crates covered with medium- large gravel. That would create a cavity in the ground that can hold a large amount of water and let it slowly drain into the soil. It's a method used in areas where water puddles excessively during heavy rain or snow melting.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Our property naturally drains it is on minor slope... There has been so much rain this year
there is nothing sacred the ground is saturated