February Farm Update

Hello everyone!  I know it has been awhile since my last update, winter is hanging on and there's not a whole lot left to do as far as planning.  Anyway I thought I'd give you a quick update on how everything is going.

First, I've ordered a few seeds, I have some saved from last year's harvest and I've still got quite a bit more to get.  I'm going to try growing tomatoes not only in the garden but I also ordered a "greenhouse specific" seed to try.  I also saved some seeds from some New Mexico Hatch chili peppers I got over the summer.  The other saved seeds I've got are varieties of squash, pumpkin,  and zucchini.   I also just found out today that my dad's tractor is finally fixed, this will be MUCH easier to get the plowing,  and tilling done.  At this point we have over 2,000 square feet of garden space!

Here's the chicken update!  All 12 hens are doing very well and have been consistently laying eggs throughout the winter.  I've been selling them to a few people at work and some relatives for $2 a dozen!  They're all brown eggs and very good!  I've been trying to save egg cartons and reuse them which has been working out alright since I've got a few people saving them.  However, today I had to finally break down and buy some cartons.  I found a website that sells "misprinted" cartons at a discount...so it wasn't too expensive.  If you're interested in buying some eggs from me let me know! I usually have a few dozen available.  In the summer I will likely be getting a dozen a day.  $2 a dozen!  You can't beat that for fresh eggs!  Also if you are going to stop by and get some eggs from me, bring me any empty cartons you may have!   With the arrival of spring, means quite a bit of chicken chores....I've been using whats called the "deep litter method" in their coop as far as the bedding goes.  Which will be all shoveled out in spring to be used directly on the garden.  I'll do a separate blog on this at a later time.  There are also a couple of repairs to make to the coop. This is a building that is well over 60 years old so I'm not surprised at all.  This was also the first winter it's been used in over 20 years. I'm also hoping to re-paint it, since it was so hot over last summer I didn't get that done.

Thanks for reading everyone!  Next update I will include a video and some photos....there is a -3 windchill outside right now, so I wasn't going to do that for today!

Cheapest Fertilizer for the Garden

Here we are at the beginning of the year, and most of us have a pile up of after the holiday bills!  Right now, most people can't even think about spending money on gardening supplies.  Here is a garden tip I've been using for years, you can start it tomorrow morning and there will be no additional cost!  The answer is used coffee grounds!  That's right, you can save your used coffee grounds and in the spring add them to your vegetable garden.  The coffee grounds have an acidic quality that excels the growth of many vegetables.  I just save them in a large container with a lid and then spread them around plants once they've sprouted.  Here is a list of what the coffee grounds can be used on.

Tomatoes, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Beans, Cabbage, Broccoli, Celery, Carrots, Cucumber, Peppers, Squash, Sweet Corn, Turnips, Onions, Cauliflower, Rhubarb, and Lettuce

You can also put the used coffee grounds on fruit plants as well.  Blueberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Cherries, Peaches, Grapes, Apples, Apricots and Cranberries!

There you have it!  My cheapest, easiest garden fertilizer! Where I used to live, some of the coffee shops actually gave away used coffee grounds to customers for them to use on gardens.  If you don't drink coffee you could always try that route.  Good luck!  Spring is going to be here before we know it!

Garden Seed List 2013

Hello 2013!  I hope everyone of my readers had a great holiday season!  It seemed to go by pretty fast.  Well, it's January 2nd and its 15 degrees outside here in Ohio.  I know, you're thinking, why would I be thinking about my garden now?  It's really the best time to start planning.  You can do all of your garden planning from inside your warm house!  I know I've covered this before so I'll make the planning suggestions quick and then get to what I have planned for this year.

First, you need to establish how much space you have to plant.  If you have no ground space, you can always plant a few things in containers.  You can plant tomatoes, beans, peppers, lettuce, greens, etc...there is really no end to what you can do in containers.

Next, based on your climate area, decide when you can plant and what varieties you can plant. Click HERE to find your garden zone.  Based on your zone, you can then select varieties of vegetables to try out.  Once you get those 2 things accomplished, you can draw it out on paper if you'd like, or enter it into a computer program. I personally just use paper, its easier and less messy trying to take a computer outside to update it.

So this year, we may decide to plant in rectangles instead of rows. I'm not positive yet if we will try this but its on the list for now.  So far this is the seed list for 2013:

tomatoes

zucchini

yellow squash

butternut squash

green onions

potatoes

peppers

greens

kale

carrots

corn

radishes

turnips

parsnips

strawberries

asparagus

watermelon

pumpkins

green beans

lettuce

I'm sure there will be things added here but this is about it for now.  I am also going to be trying out some heirloom tomatoes, and jalapenos in my greenhouse.  I will probably add more to that list as well. Get to planning!  Soon it will be time to prepare the soil!

Interplex Solar Nite Eyes Review

I wrote a blog back in October of this year about How to Predator Proof the Chicken Coop.  I wrote about several ways to keep predators out, but one I want to go into more specifics about is the Interplex Solar Nite Eyes.  I have decided to review this product after discovering this morning that one of the four solar nite eyes I had came up missing!  So below is my review of this product.  NOTE: I did not receive compensation from Interplex Solar for this review.

Interplex Solar Nite Eyes: < click to see their complete list of predators

When I first heard of the Solar Nite Eyes, I was pretty skeptical, but after finding many customers who had success with them with very serious predator problems I decided to give them a try.  Their website suggests that you order 4 of them to protect all 4 sides.  I ordered 4 of them in early July of this year.  When I received the package, they appeared to be solid but very simple and I questioned whether or not they would work.  The concept is that at night, these red "eyes" flash over and over all night are supposed to look (to an animal) that they are the eyes of another animal watching them.  They in turn feel threatened and stay away.  They do not require any batteries, have been tested in a variety of extreme weather areas, and require no maintenance.  The reference sheet that came in the package gave instructions as to how high they needed to be placed depending on the predator you're trying most to keep out.  After a whole summer trapping raccoons (one of Ohio's worst chicken predators) I really hoped these would work.  It turns out they did work!  They began to work the first night after they were placed outside.  They received literally no more than 4 hours of sunlight that day and they flashed until the sun came up.  They shut off automatically when the sun comes up and turn back on automatically when the sun goes down.  I've been using them since July and have had no problems with them staying charged and we have a lot of cloudy days here in Ohio, as well as that a couple of them aren't placed in direct sunlight.  I have also not had ANY evidence that any predators have even tried to get into the chicken house.  No areas where it looks like it has been dug up or anything.  One of my favorite features of these (and I wasn't aware of this when I ordered them) they have a magnetic back....so you don't even have to nail them to anything. Which is great for quick removal if you want to move them to a new location OR if you do need to charge them up.  The magnet is pretty strong and the only thing I've noticed is that during high winds, one of them did fall off....but that was no problem, I just reattached it and it kept working fine.  I cannot recommend these enough!  In fact I was prompted to write this review because this morning, one of mine came up missing!!  I have no idea what happened to it but once I realized I couldn't find it I immediately knew I would be ordering some more of them!  Depending on where you buy them the price ranges from I think $17 to $25.  It sounds like a lot to spend when you buy 4, but its cheaper than electric fencing, and also cheaper than replacing your flock if something does get in.  This was money well spent in my opinion and I'd spend it again in a heartbeat!  Thank you for reading and go out and buy some Solar Nite Eyes!

Easter Eggs Worked

As you can see from my last blog, one of my hens has started to lay her eggs.  She has only laid 2 eggs so far and the first egg I found on the floor.  I was concerned that they wouldn't use the nest boxes (or buckets really) I had set up for that purpose.  After looking online, I saw that most people had to put golf balls, or fake ceramic eggs in the nest boxes to train them to use the provided boxes.  I didn't really think this would work at all so I searched for some golf balls to try. I only found one golf ball but many of those plastic Easter eggs in the basement.  I didn't know if these would work since they're all different colors.  So I took enough of the plastic Easter eggs to put one in each nest bucket and placed a small rock inside each of them so they wouldn't fall out.  The eggs were only in the buckets for 1 day.  Look what happened!!

I've got a bunch of blog topics coming....more on my predator proofing, the 2013 Seed List, sometime in spring some solar power basics and much more!  There will be more gardening topics as we get closer to spring....sadly there isn't much to do during winter with the garden once you've planned out what you will plant and ordered your seeds.  Thanks for reading along!

First Egg!

Today is an exciting day!  When I went outside early this morning to let the chickens outside I was raking around the bedding on the inside of the coop and found the first egg! I have an idea which one laid the first egg but I don't know for sure.  Of course it wasn't in the nest boxes....I found it on the floor!  It had a few scratches (but not any cracks in the shell, just scratches from the sticks on the floor)  on it and is small like the first eggs are, but was completely clean!  I took some pictures!

This picture is the first egg next to a store bought white egg.  Just for size comparison....the first few eggs that chickens lay are small...but they'll get bigger after a few small ones I think.

Hooray!!  I was planning on writing a blog today about something else, I guess I'll save that one for another time!   Thanks for reading and check back soon!

Chickens See Snow

I just thought I'd show you what was happening this morning.....there are a few flurries this morning here in central Ohio and the chickens have never seen snow before.  I took a short video!  Check it out!

I just ordered a solar panel kit from Harbor Freight and at some point will write about that....but it might not be until spring.  Thanks for reading and watching!