This little ram is only a week old, so his eyes may not stay blue. But of the three that were born this month, he is the only one to have blue eyes. Strange, and beautiful. If they stay blue I may just keep him here.
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We have at least a few determined readers who live in town, or have no yards, or live in apartments, have health issues and can't manage gardens, etc. I am going to repost today some ideas for gardening in small spaces. It takes just as much work to plant and grow ornamentals as it does food; both are pretty, but for the work involved, why not get some produce out of the deal? Below are several ideas that I have found while traipsing around the internet, some I have posted before and some I haven't. They are all great for inspiration. Happy Growing! Above is an illustration on how to grow potatoes in a bag; you start at the bottom, and fill with dirt as the plant grows.
However, I want to add a little information to this drawing; it looks like it has the seed potatoes planted whole. DO NOT plant whole seed potatoes. You need to cut them in cubes first, with one or two eyes per cube, then let them dry (cure) for two or three days. If you don't, most of them will rot before you get any food from them. Then plant them eye up, and back fill dirt as the stalk grows. *This article was originally posted on December 27, 2012, and has been reworked with more photos and additional information.* We moved to this property in November of 2010, and it had never been used as a farm with animals. The back land had been farmed for hay, and twenty five years ago (before the house was built), there were horses kept on the property, but when we bought the place it was not set up for homesteaders. Our new place does have a barn that had been used in the past for the horses, but it was wide open on the inside, with no stalls or gates. The people we bought the place from had used the barn for storage, and had stripped it bare of any livestock keeping capabilites. We had our work cut out for us to try and build, bit by bit, into self sufficiency. I figure that might take the rest of our lives. The first animals I purchased were day old chicks; 14 Buff Orpingtons and 13 Barred Plymouth Rocks. When they arrived of course I had no coop, and it was freezing outside anyway. We set up an area in the basement with a heat lamp, some wood chips, and some hastily screwed together pieces of wood to make a rectangle shaped enclosure. We then got to work figuring out what we wanted for the coop. I still to this day have a terrible habit of buying the animals that are part of my plan BEFORE I have their enlcosure or fencing done, but I suppose that is another post for another day. While we were trying to get the coop finished, the birds grew to the point that we could no longer keep them in the house. We moved them out to the shop, into a big round bale holder that was out in one of the pastures that was here when moved in. It worked well for the teenaged birds through January and February, and we kept a couple of heat lamps there for them to keep them warm as they finished feathering out. Toward the end of their stay in the shop, the birds had all their feathers and could fly out of the trough. As a result, the shop was COVERED in poo; we couldn't get the coop done fast enough. We built our chicken coop off of the ground so digging predators couldn't tunnel into the building, and the walls are metal so snakes can't slither up into it. The hatch has a lock on the inside, so the raccoons and possums can't raid the joint at night. Mr. Food Farm used two pieces of clear corrugated fiberglass in the roof to let light in, and made Dutch doors so that we could check on the birds without letting them out if we needed to do so, or to leave the top half open for ventilation without leaving the entire coop open to would-be egg eaters. The floor is solid plywood, with some leftover linoleum from our old house on top of the plywood, so that the plywood wouldn't get wet and rot. The back ladder style roost is made of a big crepe myrtle that had died and left behind it's perfectly round, smooth branches and trunks. I have a couple more single rung roosts in two of the corners, as well as a row of six nesting boxes. Being interested in self sufficiency lends itself to wanting to be off grid, and we thought a small project to begin with would be a good way to learn. We decided to install a solar system on our chicken coop, to run a light during the days when sunlight is in short supply. A hen will lay eggs based on the number of hours of sunlight during the day, which is why they traditionally lay more in summer and less in winter. If you keep a light in the coop, it tricks them into laying almost all year round. Our system was purchased at Harbor Freight two years ago, and has been running the light in our coop ever since with no problems. It is a three panel system, each panel putting out 15 watts for a total of 45 watts. You can add more panels to this, but we have not done so yet. We have used the power generated by these panels to run the light, a fan during very hot nights, and an electric drill when we were building next door to the coop. We don't use our system to run a heater for the building or for water; we bought winter hardy chickens so that we wouldn't need a heater, and we also keep ducks in our coop, so no water is allowed in the building or the ducks would have the place flooded. Inside the coop is the light on the ceiling, the switch next to the door that is hard wired to the light, and an outlet that is hard wired as well. The light fixture is a standard fixture that you can get at any hardware store, as is the electrical wiring, the outlet and the switch. The only thing that is different about a solar system is that the wiring goes to a plug, rather than a fuse box. The plug is inserted into a 400 watt power inverter, which we purchased seperately. The inverter is hooked to the battery, to the positive and negative posts. The voltage regulator is wired to the battery and to the solar panels. Our three panels are on top of our broody house, which is built next to the coop (although it currently has a mama Nigerian Dwarf goat and her twins, and no birds). From the panels, wires run down into a black plastic bin, which holds the battery, the inverter and the regulator. Wiring from the regulator then runs out of the plastic bin to the solar panels. The panels soak up the sun, the current runs down the wires into the regulator, which is then stored in the battery where it waits until we flip the lightswitch. When we do, the power in the battery runs into the inverter, which changes the power from DC to AC, then the AC power is run from the inverter into the wiring for the coop via the plug. I really don't know much of anything about electricity, or solar power, although I know more now since we installed this unit. I thought that this small system would be a great introduction for us to get into solar power, and I am really impressed. We plan to buy more panels in the future, and slowly move over to solar power. Know that we have dipped our toes into free energy, we are thinking about adding a wind turbine, too. Being free of an electricty bill is certainly a goal worth working toward, and this system can get you on your way. Read the reviews of the Harbor Freight solar panel kit here, loads of helpful information from others who have set up this kit for all sorts of uses. I know there are more knowledgable people there who have left comments that might answer any questions you have about how this kit works, although I will try to do so as well. If you want to catch bugs to feed to your birds, without the worry of chemicals or even decay, try this bug catcher. We bought it years ago when we lived in the city, for mosquitos. This contraption catches ALL manner of bugs, and doesn't kill them. During the spring and summer, this hangs at the far end of our front porch at night, and then the birds get the contents in the morning. It is a bit pricey, but it serves two purposes (which all things must do around here, at least), and it lasts a very long time. We have had ours for over five years, and have only had to replace the lightbulbs once. You can buy this bug catcher at Hammacher Schlemmer, which is a fantastic company that stands behind their products forever. Hammacher is American born and raised, has been around since before the civil war, and guarantees whatever you buy for the rest of your life. I receive nothing for this post, I just really like this little tool. Twin Nigerian Dwarf goats, both boys, one horned and one polled, for sale now as bottle babies or weaned in four weeks. These boys are pure Nigerian. Horned buckling $75.00, polled buckling $100.00. Born on March 19, available now as bottle babies or weaned around May 15. Our Nigerian Dwarf goat gave birth to twins, both boys. Our biggest ewe gave birth to a single, another boy. Woke up the next morning, our second ewe gave birth to another single, yet another boy, that she refused and she now has to be restrained several times a day so that he can nurse. This morning, our third and final ewe gave birth, with our assistance because one leg was backward in the birth canal; as we finally got the lamb all the way out, yet another boy.
We have been aquiring, raising, and breeding all these animals for two years, to get crosses for milking. And after all this time, no ewes. I am crushingly disappointed. And despite the fact that it is spring, it has been sleeting all day and the new buds on all the trees are now covered in ice. I am just not feeling the homesteading vibe today. Ah well, I'll start over tomorrow, take stock and figure out where to go from here. These are the realities of living this lifestyle; sometimes it is difficult to absorb the disappointments and still feel like I am doing the right thing. It's funny, this homesteading life. When you decide to do this, before you leave the city, you have these images in your head of tranquility, and peaceful gardens, and pure quiet as you sit listening to only the sounds that nature makes. You have food in abundance, and time as well. Little birdies land on your finger, small animals trail at your heels, and suddenly you can sing really well. Your little country home is tidy and adorable, and filled with the smells of freshly baked bread and homemade pies. Life is serene, beautiful, and oh-so-carefree.
And then spring comes. Babies, everywhere. Adrenaline, in over-drive. Sleep, grabbed when you just can't keep your eyelids in the open position anymore. Baby goats, baby sheep, baby dogs, baby whatever-you-have, even baby plants that need your care RIGHT NOW. And don't forget the other spring chores; cleaning the barn, cleaning the coop, making repairs to things that suffered in the ice and snow, building new enclosures and fences, maintaining existing gardens as well as cleaning out the old ones and building new ones, making sure the machines that you use (or in my case the machines that someone else uses; one look from me and a machine refuses to go), catch and release all animals for spring de-worming, de-miting, general de-lousing, shearing and grooming, hoof trimming, and after all of that is done you have time to peruse the list of things you WANT to get done. Cooking? Maybe tomorrow. Cleaning? Let's just say we believe in the Cleaning Fairy. When I have time to write, there is nothing going on. When there is something happening every day, I don't have time to write!! I am taking tons of photos and trying to keep notes, so that when I do get to sit for a while, I will be able to write story after story to fill you in on what is happening here, how we are doing it, and the things we are learning on a daily basis. Two and a half years in, and we are still feeling like we have no idea what we are doing. And honestly, some days I wonder if we really CAN live this way, or if we are just dreamy morons who saw a pretty photo in a country life magazine one day and thought "I can do that!!". We will not give up, and in a couple of months we will feel proud, as things go through the season of growth and into the season of production. We will have time to watch the fireflies, and cook with produce grown by our own hands. We will have time to sit on the porch with family, and tell stories of our new, sometimes chaotic life. A life that is serene, and beautiful, and not so carefree. And I wouldn't go back to the city if you paid me. He is a ram lamb, so will have to be sold, but he is our first, and Beady's first, and Mom as well as baby are healthy.
It is ironic that starting seeds indoors requires grow lights, and that they be close to the seedlings or they will get too leggy and collapse. The sun isn't close to seedlings at all, and yet if you are growing things native to your area those same seedlings will thrive. Just more proof that all living things do best in their natural environments, including humans. :)
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