What did you do in the garden today?

[TJAnonymous]

My 8.5 year old hen had a seed warming mat under her bit of faux grass carpet in her private pen to keep her feet warm. I had a piece of tile on top of it, then the mat and then the grass mat. So I basically made her underfloor heating for her coop....HA!

I have a 5 yr old Buff Orpington who insists on using the highest roost at night and then waits every morning for me to come get her down so she doesn't have to fly/jump down. It's actually quite comical because she will chew me out if I take too long getting her highness down from the roost. I have a fondness for her so I overlook her haranguing. If she knew about a heated nesting box, she would probably sign up for that too....

 

[CNJ]

I think I would feel more comfortable with meat animals if you could do them all free range, and then just hunt them when it's time to eat them... IDK, but for some reason that feels better. Have them live off the land, no interaction with people...

I use an Older Timer hunting knife to slit their necks, does this count as hunting?

 

[CNJ]

I *really* want to make and can my own tomato sauce. But I never seem to get enough tomatoes at the right time to do it.

If you can grow the Burpee Super Sauce Hybrid tomato in your area without any problems, you will have a lot of tomatoes to work with. I grew 3 plants and they all got stunted by the weird tomato virus in my yard, but I can tell from the tomatoes that grew before it got stunted that this plant will produce very large tomatoes and lots of it, in ideal conditions. This is a picture of some ripe tomatoes, but I have more green and half ripe ones still left on the stunted 3 foot plant.

I will try again latter and plant more plants, so I get more tomatoes before the virus stunts it.

 

[BReeder!]

Here's a pic of the new raised bed. Excuse the tools laying around.

Its wood frame and corrugated steel walls like the other 4 large beds. This one is a little smaller at just 30" wide instead of 48", but we will only be able to access it from the right side so I wanted to ensure we could reach across it.

I'm debating between a fountain or bird bath between the bed and the shed (shed is out of the picture to the right side). I'll finish leveling the ground and put gravel down I think first. There's a roughly 8'x12' space there though, so enough room to put something up to 3ft wide that we can walk around.

 

[CNJ]

Came across this little deal on Lowe's website. It's a 2 ft x 4 ft galvanized steel raised bed for $40. I bought 2 of them so I could qualify for free shipping.
View attachment 3416790

This is cheaper that four 20 gallon plastic totes at Lowes, so its worth it.

 

[WthrLady]

lights made a quick 6 minute appearance

 

[Paz]

I use an Older Timer hunting knife to slit their necks, does this count as hunting?

Hahaha, I don’t mind the killing, I just don’t like seeing unhealthy animals. Killing an annoying rooster or a bunch of pigeons is not the problem.

 

[Badchickenpun]

I use an Older Timer hunting knife to slit their necks, does this count as hunting?

Only if you cover yourself in camo paint first... LOL

 

[Badchickenpun]

I'm still trying to figure out what varieties work best for my family. In the past we've only really used tomatoes as slicers for raw eating or BLTs or whatever. So beefsteaks are a must. We also make salsa every year. I like cherry tomatoes occasionally for salads but I always end up with buckets of them and I might eat only a couple of salads all summer (something I'm trying to improve!). The rest just go to waste as my chickens aren't really fans. I *really* want to make and can my own tomato sauce. But I never seem to get enough tomatoes at the right time to do it. Last year I was saving tomatoes in the fridge but by the time I had enough to try to make sauce, many were moldy. I ended up losing the whole harvest.

Anyway, the point being that I'm experimenting with different varieties to see what I like the best. I've done these varieties in the past few years -

Better boy, Celebrity, Brandywine, Super Sweet 100, Sart Roloise, Black Strawberry, Roma, San Marzano, Purple Cherokee, Blue Cream, Prairie Fire

Of all those, I probably like the Celebrity the best followed by the Purple Cherokee.

Anyway, we'll see how these new varieties fare this year.

I used to have the same problem with the tomatoes going bad.
Now, I process and freeze the tomatoes imediately, then get them all back out and throw them in the pot when I have enough. I make sure to weigh the baggies before freezing, usually about five lbs at a time; so that I know when I get enough for 40 lbs, I can start to make plans for sauce and salsa.
I used my salsa as a base for chili and it works great.

 

[Sammster]

Came across this little deal on Lowe's website. It's a 2 ft x 4 ft galvanized steel raised bed for $40. I bought 2 of them so I could qualify for free shipping.
View attachment 3416790

Thank you so much for sharing! I've been wanting planters to edge the coop. These are so affordable. Two ordered