Well it's official, my entire family has now reached adulthood. My youngest sister just turned 18! Time flies when you're doing stuff. I was thinking about that, and then I realized today that my daughter will be 12 years old in 4 years from now. She's 2/3 of the way to puberty!!! At least I've got my anti-boyfriend shotgun secured already. I need a few years to practice my 'threatening brandish at the door' routine. I've already taught her most of the sensitive attack points on a male body.
GARDEN
Everything is planted! Well, almost. I want to put in some radishes yet. We just came out of about 1.5 weeks of steady rain, and the warm sun is going to be out for this next week. The peas I planted about 2 weeks ago have sprouted, and are about 2 inches tall. I haven't seen any of my beans, potatoes, carrots, or sunflowers yet. I went out into some pasture and tossed a whole bag of buckwheat, quinoa, clover, amaranth, and some barley. I found a few birds munching on my seeds, so I shot one with my shotgun and I haven't seen them since. I can see the seeds all over the place when I walk about, so I'm sure that most of them will be around to hopefully germinate.
The greenhouse is holding up well, even without a door (hey, I'm a busy guy). I've got 4 Roma tomato plants that I bought the other day, and a bunch of cucumbers that I started myself. This morning, I found a fairly thick layer of ice on some water in a wheelbarrow, but the tomatoes were completely unfrosted inside the greenhouse, despite the zillions of gaps all over the dam thing! I wouldn't want to trust that protection too far, so I put some plastic over them tonite, it could be cold again.
CHICKENS
I've ordered the brood heater, which is on it's way from the US, along with the electronet fencing. I just need to fashion some sort of hawk protection for the chickens, and some roosts, and we'll be sailing up the Bayou with both guns blazing. That is, I can order the chicks from the hatchery. My plan is to mix and grind my own feed, unmedicated of course. I've cleared a bunch of room in the greenhouse. I will start with 250 chicks, and once they've cleared the brooder, I'll order another 150~ and another electronet fence. It takes about 18 weeks for the chickens to reach market weight, so that will bring me to the end of September. By then, I should have lined up some customers, and set up a website.
Keep your mouse peeled for www.sunset-meadows.com/chicken for ordering details!
OTHER RANDOM STUFF
My work with the census is going well, I've only got about 55 forms to collect yet. I'll be heading out on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday to hassle, I mean, ask people for their forms. I've yet to find anyone who hasn't been totally cooperative, so I'm enjoying the work pretty well!
My wife, Heather is starting a business promoting cool products, and she earns commissions off what people buy under her name. Please visit www.fhtmca.com/heatherschneider and buy lots of stuff. You know you wanna! Seriously, there's a LOT of things, computers, clothing etc. Check it out.
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A blog detailing the struggles of a family starting a new homestead in Alberta Canada, including gardening, renewable energy, homeschooling, and the hilarity of life in general.
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1 comment:
Just wondering a few things? What do you have planted in the rows that you were using newspaper and non tillage? I am curious as to how that is working out and if it is something you would recomend. Also do you plant your tomatoes or do you hang them in the greenhouse? These seeds that you are thrwing out in the pasture, we have farmed for many years and spend thousands of dollars a year trying to control certain weeds, buckwheat being one of them. It is a very hard weed to control and even harder once it takes off, are you not concerned that this could become a problem for you or adjacent landowners? With the chickens are there specific markets for non-medicated fed chickens or does this fall under organic food? If so how do you locate these markets?
Can't wait for more!
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