New Website--A Little Red Cabin on homesteading

So, I haven't decided what I'm going to do with this blog yet, I may still use it for something but I am working on a new website (still very beta, I haven't even deleted or replaced all of the dummy posts yet) This post is mainly to experiment with link building and what happens when I link from this website to the other.

The Farm is Growing!

The chickens are almost full grown now and we've acquired a few new additions to the homestead. We borrowed a goat from Abe's work (we hope to get a few pygmy goats of our own eventually) to help with a noxious weed problem. We have 2 patches of a particularly difficult to eradicate perennial weed called Russian Knapweed. I'm sure I'll post more on that as I've made it my personal crusade to prove to the Home Owners Association that it can be taken care of without using toxic chemicals. Kensi and Salem have their birthday next week and Salem has been asking for a dog. We're not ready to spend the time necessary to train a dog yet but we were able to get him a bunny for free off of KSL with cage, bedding, feed, and waterer all included. We gave it to him early and he has been carrying it around like a baby all day today. So sweet! Its the cutest lop ear and he named it Frosting. Just a little tid-bit you might not have known--one of the great things about rabbit manure is that it can be applied fresh as a plant fertilizer and will not burn the plants like most other fresh manures which tend to be very high in nitrogen. The goat manure will be helpful as well in building the deficient soil here. And in addition to our imported animals we also have the native populations in full summer swing. Lots of grasshoppers that I know are going to be a challenge in the garden and these cool lizards that are everywhere. I am now thouroughly convinced of the benefit of raising animals--its good for the children and its therapeutic for me as well. Seriously, watching the chickens peck in the dirt is as entertaining as any cable TV and much more relaxing and contemplative.

Field Trip

So our 3 week old chickies spent their first night in the new coop last night and had their first outdoor excursion this morning. It was fun to watch them chase the flies and gobble up the ants. We need to train them to go out the chicken hatch in the back. The goal is to keep them mostly in the wild areas of the property (that will later hopefully be pasture) instead of in the area closest to the house that will eventually be a large deck and small lawn and play area. I'm still trying to decide whether to keep their food and water in the coop or just put it out for them in the mornings when I let them out. The kids are really enjoying them and think the coop is a playhouse for them as well. Of course, the wood shavings are new so I'm sure they'll change their minds about that as the litter gets "used" a bit more. Although I have started putting garlic powder in their feed so we'll have to see how well that works.

The Coop

The coop in progress. One side will be a shed and the other for the chickens. If we get really ambitious and need more room we could knock out the wall and use all of it for chickens. As it is, its much bigger than needed for 8 hens so that won't be for awhile. We still need to put in the windows and the porch and finish the nesting boxes. The roof and siding match the main house so it blends in well.

Chickens!

The first day we brought the chickies home.
What they look like today.

We took the plunge and on my sons 3rd birthday bought 8 Rhode Island Red chickies from the feed store. That is a dual-purpose breed and will be great laying hens but they are also meaty enough to be good for eating as well. They are supposed to be mild-mannered, hardy, and good foragers. They are now a little over 2 weeks old, have more than doubled in size, and are almost fully feathered. They should begin laying somewhere around 18-20 weeks which will be in September sometime. My husband is building the coop as we speak. We are building it much larger than necessary as we have a tendency to expand :-). I'd also like to try my hand at some meat birds next year.

For those of you not familiar with meat birds, virtually all commercially raised chicken is some kind of a Cornish Cross. They are bred to gain weight extremely fast, so fast in fact that the rest of their body systems can't keep up and they are prone to heart failure and other illnesses. They are also bred to be lazy and thus are not good for free ranging. I recently learned about some meat birds from European stock (used for most ranging systems all over France) that mature just a week or two later than the Cornish Crosses but are much more healthy and active and good for ranging. I'm planning on trying some of these next year (although, the coop is almost finished, I might be able to squeeze some in this summer...don't tell my husband :-) )Here is a link to a hatchery that offers them--J.M Hatchery. They are called Colored Range Broilers.

We will be starting our hens just on the bagged layer pellets from the feed store supplemented with the multitude of bugs, worms, crickets, and greens they will harvest themselves along with some kitchen scraps. I am interested in becoming more self-sufficient regarding their feed to economize and approach a more natural diet. I have been reading interesting articles about how to breed worms, maggots, mealworms, and crickets. I'm sure I'll have more info on that down the road and can provide some links.

Another interesting article I came across mentioned a study where they added 3% garlic powder to the chicken feed. Supposedly, it virtually eliminated any manure odor and made the coop smell like a pizzeria! Also, in taste tests, testers preferred the eggs from the garlic fed hens. Garlic is also immunity boosting and insecticidal. I will definitely be trying that one out!

The Asparagus Today

Here is the asparagus bed today. The spear that we eat is the very first part that peeks above the earth. You can't harvest any the first two years because it will exhaust the root system. After that, you can still only harvest over several weeks because you need to let some develop into asparagus ferns (the third photo is starting to fern out but will eventually grow to over 5 feet tall-its so skinny I couldn't get the camera to focus on it so its a bit blurry) to regenerate the roots so you will continue to have a harvest every year. The spears will get bigger as the root system develops. Another added bonus is that I've heard asparagus is somewhat deer-proof. (crossing my fingers on that one!)

Asparagus Bed

The trench, notice our solid clay soil--we're going to have to work hard on amending the soil.

The layer of horse manure.

The layer of compost.

The asparagus crown.

After planting--I let my crowns sit out for too long before planting and they had already sprouted. I ended up having to cut off the first stalk, but the new stems and ferns are developing beautifully. I'll get some current photos tomorrow.

I put the asparagus bed in a few weeks ago. I LOVE asparagus and all of my kids will eat it, it is a perennial and requires very little work once established, it is one of the first vegetables to harvest in the spring, it is very hardy and should do really well in this climate. The only draw back is that it takes a few years to get going so I wanted to make sure and get it planted this year. I planted 20 1-year old crowns in a 30 foot trench/row about 18 inches apart.
First we (well, my husband mostly :-) dug a trench about 8-10 inches deep and about 18-24 inches wide. In the bottom of the trench I put several inches of horse manure, topped with several more inches of good compost, topped with a bit of soil. Then I planted the spidery looking crowns, topped with more soil, and mulched with some old straw. In our case, we planted 20 crowns in a 30 foot row. It seems like a lot but that will still only give us about 10 lbs. of asparagus per year when it reaches maximum production. That is why asparagus is so expensive--it takes a lot of space and time to grow.