Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[mallard14]

Hi guys i was wondering if any of you might be interested? I have some over 40 dollars in gift certificates From Metzer farms but I have changed from waterfowl to turkeys and was wondering if anyone would want to trade some turkeys or other for it ? thanks

 

[chikenscratch]

Good morning my lovely chicken friends!!!! It is gonna be warm today and hopefully sunny. Get out and soak up the Vitamin D.

Is anyone else consistently getting double yolkers?

bl4-regarding gardening/starting seeds. I'm not sure that the ground will be ready in 2-4 weeks, so I'm waiting a bit longer. I'll probably start around April 12th.

Anyone have a non-'icide method for getting rid of grass under the area in which I plan to build raised beds? I have a bunch of cardboard which I'll put down and I plan to buy huge bags of garden soil to place on top of each area. I was thinking about vinegar/hot water. Any other/better ideas that are tried and true?

DH ordered our spiles and they should be arriving any day. I think we are officially at the beginning of sap running (here at least). Today its supposed to be 50, but it won't be until next weekend that we will be much above freezing again.

Cuties- what are the dimensions for the portable rabbit hutches that your DH make? My DH will finally be building me one. I'm referring to the rectangular one with the triangle corner covered area.

Good day to all!

 

[jvls1942]

Good morning my lovely chicken friends!!!! It is gonna be warm today and hopefully sunny. Get out and soak up the Vitamin D.

Is anyone else consistently getting double yolkers?

bl4-regarding gardening/starting seeds. I'm not sure that the ground will be ready in 2-4 weeks, so I'm waiting a bit longer. I'll probably start around April 12th.

Anyone have a non-'icide method for getting rid of grass under the area in which I plan to build raised beds? I have a bunch of cardboard which I'll put down and I plan to buy huge bags of garden soil to place on top of each area. I was thinking about vinegar/hot water. Any other/better ideas that are tried and true?

DH ordered our spiles and they should be arriving any day. I think we are officially at the beginning of sap running (here at least). Today its supposed to be 50, but it won't be until next weekend that we will be much above freezing again.

Cuties- what are the dimensions for the portable rabbit hutches that your DH make? My DH will finally be building me one. I'm referring to the rectangular one with the triangle corner covered area.

Good day to all!

temporary fences.. put a fence around where the grass is,, put chickens, ducks, geese or whatever in there.. In a couple of days there will be bare ground.. then till it up real good..
If you have any pigs, they will even work up the ground for you..

 

[unkadan]

raised beds,,,

How tall will the finished beds be? If over 6" you don't have to remove the grass, it will be killed by the soil added (no light) add a permeable weed block if you wish. If you think you might have a drainage problem then simply use a pitchfork to loosen the grass area,,,then add the medium of choice to the raised bed.

You should check with local suppliers and get prices on bulk topsoil/compost it's amazing how many bags you will need for beds of any size. Usually a good source will have recent "tests" available on the product they are selling.

Fill the beds then water heavily to "settle" the mix,,,add more if needed. They will always settle more as the rain and or watering is done during the season.

good luck, enjoy!

 

[1876 Farm]

DH ordered our spiles and they should be arriving any day. I think we are officially at the beginning of sap running (here at least). Today its supposed to be 50, but it won't be until next weekend that we will be much above freezing again.

Good news on the sap running.... we have 7 or so trees tapped, but nothing is really dripping. I think the ground is still frozen here. :-(

 

[jvls1942]

when I did raised beds. I worked up the garden as usual.. then I moved the top soil from where the walkways were going to be and put it in the raised bed area.. that exposed the less fertile walkways so it kept the weeds from growing too well there..

I didn't frame in the beds.. just mounded them.. it more than doubled the top soil..

are you going to frame the edges with timbers or boards ?

Hmmm now you got me thinking I might do some raised beds..

I could take Ollie and scrape the dirt into long rows.. thanks for the idea..

..........jiminwisc.........

 

[1876 Farm]

On the raised bed subject... I use saved cardboard boxes to lay on the ground, inside the raised beds, before I put in the top soil. It kills the grass and then over time rots.

 

[wildsam]

Morning everyone! Nice weather so far but not really looking forward to those 20's again this weekend, and then snow?!? Really?!? I got enough of this stuff and we could really use some more temps in the 40's to slowly melt all this snowy mess in our yard (and probably everyone elses) and to be able to actually have a yard again!

Sorry H&R for ur losses. Life can sometimes be cruel when you love someone/thing. Yet I have found out that everything DOES happen for a reason. We might not know it yet, but it will show down the road your heading...

momgille, happy anniversary and hope you had a great day to celebrate it! Gosh, I wish I could even come remotely close to those anniversary years of yours....

Sheila our Pekin is still sitting on the clutch she got. SO told me she has been doing that a couple of weeks now. Just not sure with the cold weather if there will be any chicks. But we will sit and wait to see what comes of it. Should be hatching right around the same date our Anconas should hatch. Now I'm really getting excited for all those little fuzzies!

Plus, to add to the cuteness of that, SO just told me last night to go ahead and order 10 ducklings from Holderreads! Will be Saxonies and Golden Cascade and we plan on breeding them. That will be a HUGE mess, but it is so worth it, as we found out with our current duckies. And they all lay waaaay better than all of our chickens! Sooo, we might be getting in the business of selling/trading/breeding some endangered and rare duck breeds (Anconas, Saxonies and Golden Cascades). Are we there yet, are we there yet?!?

Other than that, nothing new here. Just trying to wait for the haze to go away and get some more sunshine before the cold and snow hopefully don't take over again!

 

[Terri O]

Lots to read this morning! I am glad some of you quoted past posts because I must have missed some here and there with my new "computer regime!"
All this gardening talk has got me itching to start digging! I was at my Master Gardener's meeting last night and the presentation was by a woman that used to work for Seed Savers Exchange in IA. Very interesting! And on that subject I have some seeds to share from my great Hubbard harvest last year. According to this woman they might be crossbred seeds now. I originally planted Heirloom Hubbard seeds that I got from BigZ; but because I didnt guard against cross pollination and I had other squashes in the area the seeds might not come true. I am going to plant them anyhow--maybe I will come up with a new variety! (and then I will be famous!)

SO if you want some, send me a PM.
OK--my time is up and I have to go to work. Have a great day...thinking about doing some tapping of trees soon too!

Here is a pic of the great hubbard harvest! Look at all that GREEN! (someday it will be back....)



TerriO

 

[jvls1942]

I am not complaining about 20F .. it is 40 degrees warmer than what we were getting..

but as long as winter insists on hanging on, I made a large pot of chili .. no regular meal times here for awhile.. just scoop a bowlful any time and grab the box of Ritz and some cheese spread ....

part of my fly pen roof partially collapsed.. just the part that had a tarp over it.. doesn't look too bad.. I think I will be able to just push everything back up into place.. might have to add a couple of boards for bracing..

H&R.. I do not have any peafowl anymore.. we were down to one peacock and he up and died in early winter..

..........jiminwisc.........