What did you do in the garden today?

[vall]

Almost two hours of mowing today. It's my first gas tool.. took me about 5 tries to actually start it, haha. Then I found pickle worms on the cuke flowers so I sprayed BT. Not really supposed to rain today but I'm sure it will just to wash that off

In a weird kind of way. Fireants are attracted to electricity for some reason, but chickens won't eat them, unfortunately. Too bad. That'd be an easy fix for a big problem down south!

Aaron

I have an occasional fireant nest in one of my quail feeders. Once I move the feeder away from the wall and expose the ants the roo will start chattering and all the hens gather around and eat the ants. So, maybe you need quail?

Inverters are on each panel... Each panel makes around 2-3 kWh per day and there are 44 panels. Of course that's according to the manufacturer app which never matches what the electric company shows.

But yeah, my theory was that it's putting off some kind of EMF they don't like.

The hawks avoid my quail pens now that I have a 10x10 electric fence around it, so that might be it.

 

[Sueby]

I froze a bunch last year and they were just as sweet and delicious as they had been fresh. I didn't blanch them, just pealed, sliced, bagged up and frozen.

I didn't know you could freeze carrots! & I don't have any idea why I never thought you could, lol.

My chicken run is too large (135 ft x 32 ft) for that to work. I just take them off the roost at night but there are a few corners where I have staggered roosts that I can't reach without a stepstool (which I forgot to bring out with me, of course). I'll wait 10 days and use the marking system so I can better tell who was treated and who wasn't. I have a bunch of Black Australorps and Ameracaunas that look the same. When they all started shuffling around, I lost track of which ones I treated. Not to mention the few I couldn't reach. Need to go pick up more wormer anyway...

What are you using to worm, if you don't mind me asking?

If anyone is interested in any of the following, PM me your address....

Loofah seeds
Wisteria seed pods
Wisteria cuttings

I also have a few cuttings from a coral trumpet Honeysuckle vine. It's from my mom's place. She wants it cut down so I'm salvaging cuttings from it. It's a big draw for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Thank you for the offer, very generous of you. I'll send you a pm.

Super nice day out, still not able to do much though.

 

[CedarLane]

Carrots.
So many carrots.

And this is only what is left if the first planting of carrots. There is still the later planting to pick, but there is less of them.

After washing them, and bagging them, there are 14 gallon ziploc bags filled to the brims/barely able to zip them, in the fridge.

So, carrot ideas? I’ve pickled done and canned some already!

Do you have potatoes? I like to can a base to make a cheddar potato soup. Pint Jar: 1 cup potatoes, 1/2 cup carrots, 1/4 cup celery 1/8 cup onion, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 (or less) tsp pepper, water. Double amounts for a quart.

Before I open a can, I melt 2 T butter. Slowly add 2 T flour and stir into a smooth paste. Slowly add 1 cup milk and stir til thick. Add 1/2-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Then add the jar of vegetables and heat through. Good like this, but sometimes I add 1/2-1 cup of cooked meat (ground burger, chopped ham, sausage, etc.).

I have to buy the carrots and celery. I've tried without success to grow carrots. I usually only get a few small ones.

 

[NewBoots]

I had to post this, DP found it:

Made me laugh.

 

[Ascholten]

Yes you absolutely CAN freeze carrots, both raw or cooked!
Cooked, of course just a few minute heat and eat but they do good raw too.
I Freeze Dry mine, and either munch them dry as a snack or rehydrate, cook / eat or whatever. If I am going to put them in a soup or something Ill just add the dried carrot pieces and cook like normal.

Aaron

 

[WthrLady]

We battle Johnson grass, there's also crabgrass & wild Bermuda grass, but there is a grass here that I had never encountered before moving here. It grew into tough clumps sometimes. I dug some up, that had grown long and was so tough the chickens didn't want anything to do with it. At the roots were these little round balls, like a bulb. I dug further and there were more balls, like a string of pearls going deep into the ground...which made me realize, to efficiently dig this up so that it wouldn't return, I'd basically have to scrape off the entire top 2 feet of a few acres. Yeah right, that's not gonna happen! I asked a neighbor what this crap is...what type of grass did these idiots plant before I moved here... it's a grass at the top but has a ball at the bottom...I started referring to it as "ball-grass" . The neighbor thought it was wild onions. Nope, entirely different grass stalk type, plus I have harvested & cooked with the wild onions, they're cool. No these bulbs had no onion smell. I took photos and emailed several people, local co-op Ag extension service included, and learned that my "ball-grass" is actually Nutsedge. It is a PITA too, very hardy, survives the driest drought or worst floods. And no I'm not going to harvest & eat it, although according to some it is edible. The reason...well those darn fire ants seem to like tunneling all around it. So the times I've dug up some, angry fire ants ran up the handle of my shovel, got under my gloves & stung me good.

I also have Bishops weed spreading everywhere.

Any advice on dealing with this crap is greatly appreciated.

Yellow nut sedge ....ugh

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Yes you absolutely can freeze carrots. I would recommend blanching if you want to keep them in the freezer for over 3 months. A trip through the frozen food section of your local grocer can be s learning experience. You can also pressure can them. Canned carrots are one of the few canned vegetables I can tolerate. As mentioned carrot cake or muffins. Combined with applesauce makes a moist, lowfat cake or bread. No work in the garden yet. I did notice a small poblano pepper yesterday so I picked that after I picked some daisies. I lost one of my older hens yesterday. She had been ill a few months ago and pulled through. But the day before yesterday she looked poorly again. I put her in the unoccupied rooster pen and fed her scrambled eggs. She passed yesterday afternoon. I’m glad she went now because she would have never made it through winter. I raked up a pile of feathers this morning and tossed them in the compost pile. When I came out to let the chickens out a little while ago they have been replaced with freshly dropped feathers. Oh well. I’ll give them another day or two.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I didn't know you could freeze carrots! & I don't have any idea why I never thought you could, lol.

What are you using to worm, if you don't mind me asking?

Thank you for the offer, very generous of you. I'll send you a pm.

Super nice day out, still not able to do much though.

I use Safeguard (Fenbendazole). They are not fans of worming... I probably should do it more often since I have goats (notoriously wormy) who share the same run but I don't like to worm unless I see obvious signs. I do worm chickens individually if they look peaked for any reason. I do worm my goats and horses regularly though every other month.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Do you have potatoes? I like to can a base to make a cheddar potato soup. Pint Jar: 1 cup potatoes, 1/2 cup carrots, 1/4 cup celery 1/8 cup onion, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 (or less) tsp pepper, water. Double amounts for a quart.

Before I open a can, I melt 2 T butter. Slowly add 2 T flour and stir into a smooth paste. Slowly add 1 cup milk and stir til thick. Add 1/2-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Then add the jar of vegetables and heat through. Good like this, but sometimes I add 1/2-1 cup of cooked meat (ground burger, chopped ham, sausage, etc.).

I have to buy the carrots and celery. I've tried without success to grow carrots. I usually only get a few small ones.

This sounds so good right now! My DH was feeling pukey yesterday and it spilled over to me today. I haven't felt like eating all day but your soup sounds delicious!

 

[Ascholten]

Ive used ivermectin to worm them, and feed them DE once a month or so and have never seen any real worm problems with them. A few drops of iver on the neck can get rid of mites and lice too. It won't work for tapeworms though. While it may not be the 'recommended' wormer for them, it works extremely well, and since it's just me eating the eggs, I don't worry about 'pull days' since I don't sell them, and the people Id give them to, aka my few friends, are not afraid of Ivermectin even if they did get any in them, in fact like me, have tubes for other purposes as well.

No they typically don't like de worming, or lets be honest, ANY procedure that you have to hold them and 'force' anything on them. Even when you try to pretend it's cuddle time, for some odd reason, they seem to know better.

If a bird is sick, Ill take her upstairs and treat her in the bathroom because it's easier to work on the sink counter, otherwise general worming etc, I get crappy clothes and do it outside then leave the clothes outside and spray with bleach water / alcohol and let soak in disinfecting soap before washing them. yes this IS a lot of overkill but if im flushing out worms, I do NOT want to bring them to the INSIDE birds.

Aaron