well i now have 35+ tomatoes coming up.their around 1 inch tall..but looking great.
This weeks preps check-in
- Thread starter Trapper
- Start date
Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:
Today just finished planting the garden . Our local big box department store got a huge shippment of ammo I bought up some .223's and some 9mm's and spent $$ that I shouldn't have but just doing what I tell others to do if you see a box of ammo you want buy it because the ammo crunch aint going away anytime soon .
thats deffintly true about ammo.thats why i buy it when ever i do..even if i have money enough for 1 box..
I got word today that my new chicks will be here Wens. So I am adding on some more coops to the yard, and we are expecting 23 chicks to be in the mail Wens, along with me having 38 eggs in the incubator due the 20th- 29th for hatch dates. I hope for at least half of them to hatch. Some are for us to be using for eating eggs, and others are for us to sell the hatching eggs, however all in all if they are needed for food, I will have plenty of food. That is the one good thing about chickens. they give us back food for what they eat daily.
Husband made me raised bed planters for mother's day. I love a practical husband! Got a few things planted and hope to finish in the next day or so. My first attempt at a garden will hopefully yield items for my first attempt at canning!
Have had 3 inches of growth in the last week on my tomato plants. Had to build a retaining wall to catch the over spray from the soaker hose. Put up rabbit proof fence. Put up motion sensor light to scare away dumb bunnies.
Bought glue traps for brown recluse spiders. Heat outside making them move to " cooler" climates.
Bought some more can food for storage. Mostly vegetables.
Bought glue traps for brown recluse spiders. Heat outside making them move to " cooler" climates.
Bought some more can food for storage. Mostly vegetables.
my first time on this size garden as well newbie,and i'm new at canning as well..i hope for best for ya.
i been using glue traps for over 2 years now..i've not only got spiders on them..but i've gotton 2 mice as well..
i been using glue traps for over 2 years now..i've not only got spiders on them..but i've gotton 2 mice as well..
what breed of chickens?
I have 11 NN's (10 pullets and 1 Cockerel) , 6 Buff Orpingtons (5 pullets and 1 Cockerel), 5 Delawares (Pullets), 1 Brown leg horn (cockerel) Along with am hatching out 32 games (Greys) and 4 Delaware x games
I'm impressed, I have a bunch of mutt chickens! I do have a beautiful dominecker rooster, and a lot of the girls are mostly Rhode Island reds, but most are scrappy yard chickens. I only hatch the eggs from the larger girls that produce well, so over time I'll have a better stock.
My wifes white Batams hatched 6 chicks and my Brown Red games ( Wingate ) have 10 chicks and one batch Brown red / Sid Taylor cross . My wifes Domineckers seem to lay forever without wanting to set these are great egg machines .
I had planned to finally have a great supply next year of Delaware babies from our own, this way I could sell them. I had 1 rooster and 2 hens already. However my rooster changed all of that. he broke one of my girls necks by yanking her through a fence, and now I am down 1 hen, and he is being culled for what he did. So now that means I will have to put the Delawares in with the Buff orpingtons and have buff stars. Not at all what I wanted. I try and keep chickens separate because i can make more off the eggs through e-bay for hatching eggs. But this through me way off track. Me losing 2 show quality Delawares in a week is not good.
If you want to make money from the chickens, and get at least enough to cover a year or mores worth of food for them. I advise sticking with a breed that is rare in your area, and then sell the hatching eggs. Locally I can get $10 a dozen through e-bay I can get between $20 a dozen and $60 a dozen depending on breed. You can still use them for your own purposes, however selling those hatching eggs brings up your income a bit.
Well looks like I am off to the post office. the lady just called and told me my chicks are there. Yuck. No delivery????
Got 2 containers in the house with them in it NN's in one and the others in another container. So far I have found out that the NN's may be a bit smaller but they sure are smarter. They found the food and water right off. The bigger ones in the other container took them 3 hours to figure out the water. This will mean tons of eggs next year, for eating, pickling, and storing away. Along with selling some.
I've given away lots of eggs to coworkers, but haven't tried selling any. I love the eggs but am raising for meat more. I mixed the chicks in with the hens yesterday, there still pretty terrified but seem ok. The two ducks have integrated with the older birds just fine. I was more worried about them and am relieved the hens don't seem to care that they are there. They are pretty interesting critters, they seem to have a lot more going on than the chickens.
Ducks are something that folks say are great to have around. I however don't have a place for them to swim. My neighbor has a large farm pond, and I always figured if I had ducks they would go straight there. Not at all what he or I want to happen. If you have some good breeds check out e-bay and see what those types of hatching eggs go for. Now if you have EE's folks love their eggs and will pay extra for them even locally. Next year I might try and trade in my Delawares for EE's. I like the thought of green eggs.
This weekend, I go to disassemble my friend's chicken coup to bring back and assemble at the ranch. My local feed store has Rhode Island Red pullets (baby hens) in stock, so works out great! Perfect timing!
Next week, I'm converting a dingy old horse stall we never use, into a large bunny habitat, where we can separate the males and females, and provide a breeding area when desired. It will give them a good deal of room, and should make them feel more secure. In addition, stall has fans, light, and is near a water spigot, to much easier to care for them there. Right now, they're in kind of a improvised hutch (where each bunny is separated). It's actually decent, but I really want them to have more room and a better quality of life.
The following week, plan is to put in the Koi pond, and start the herb garden around it (medicinal and cooking herbs). There is kind of a little entry patch of yard, where we have a fountain now, but the fountain will be rigged up to the pond and have a little waterfall going into it.
The week after that, we'll start laying out the garden area, and prepping the soil beds. Still a while till we plant, but may take a couple weekends of work to do this. There are some summer crops we can grow (field peas, watermelon, peppers), that we might try to do first. Otherwise, most is just prepping for fall planting.
Of course, will have to get some pictures up of all this as it goes down. While my plans, my wife can (and will) delay them from time to time. But at least I know the coup is happening on Sunday, woo hoo!
Next week, I'm converting a dingy old horse stall we never use, into a large bunny habitat, where we can separate the males and females, and provide a breeding area when desired. It will give them a good deal of room, and should make them feel more secure. In addition, stall has fans, light, and is near a water spigot, to much easier to care for them there. Right now, they're in kind of a improvised hutch (where each bunny is separated). It's actually decent, but I really want them to have more room and a better quality of life.
The following week, plan is to put in the Koi pond, and start the herb garden around it (medicinal and cooking herbs). There is kind of a little entry patch of yard, where we have a fountain now, but the fountain will be rigged up to the pond and have a little waterfall going into it.
The week after that, we'll start laying out the garden area, and prepping the soil beds. Still a while till we plant, but may take a couple weekends of work to do this. There are some summer crops we can grow (field peas, watermelon, peppers), that we might try to do first. Otherwise, most is just prepping for fall planting.
Of course, will have to get some pictures up of all this as it goes down. While my plans, my wife can (and will) delay them from time to time. But at least I know the coup is happening on Sunday, woo hoo!
Last edited:
You're starting as many projects as I am! I like that you're trying to give your animals as comfortable an area as possible. I know I'm going to eat them at a point down the road, but it's good to know they have a good life up to then. I got the roof on the expanded part of the chicken coop and opened a walkway for them between the two areas. They have double the space to walk now. I'm still dragging a hose to water everyone, it will be nice to have hard plumbing one of these days. It's not only good to have a nice place for the animals, but to have a nice setup for easy maintenance of them is important too. It would have been nice to see someone else's setup before bringing animals home, but I'm working the bugs out of it as I go. I had about fifteen koi in the front pond that were at least a pound or more before they all got washed down to my neighbors pond during a storm! There's some trial and error here. The new pond I dug recently is off to the side of the stream, and will get some wire mesh put up before I get anymore fish. I think I'm going with brim this time as they eat just about anything, including table scraps. I also had a little setback with the chickens. The new birds I hatched in the incubator didn't socialize with the older hens and six were killed. I separated the three left, and just for safety put the ducks in with them too. I'll wait till they are a lot larger before mixing them again. As I've stated before, I'm glad to be learning all this stuff now, while I can call it a hobby. If shtf and you need to start raising animals and gardening, these little setbacks could mean the difference between eating and not
I have been thinking about a project and may start it up after the first of the month. I figured my first project will be to make a small cooking area outside. I am going to use bricks and build it up some and then put an older gas grill, grate across the top, so that we can cook tamales outside, corn, or most anything that I can place on there. Then later on I want to work on a brick oven so we can bake things if needed. Once those 2 things are done in the following months, I want a smoke house up, so I can smoke meats.
In a couple of weeks, I am going to buy some cheese wax, then start waxing cheese to last us for a few months if needed. That is if I can keep the kids from it. I would love to dig down in and make a storm cellar that would keep stuff cold, however I believe that wouldn't work here. Plus I try and watch what I do around here, way to many eyes watching. Which reminds me I need some more Leyland cypress to plant next to the fence. I hate people watching me. We only have 2 more sides to fix this year.
My biggest plan is to get a puppy to bring up around the chickens, that way it will learn to not eat them. The dog would be good for protection for the flock as well as for us.
In a couple of weeks, I am going to buy some cheese wax, then start waxing cheese to last us for a few months if needed. That is if I can keep the kids from it. I would love to dig down in and make a storm cellar that would keep stuff cold, however I believe that wouldn't work here. Plus I try and watch what I do around here, way to many eyes watching. Which reminds me I need some more Leyland cypress to plant next to the fence. I hate people watching me. We only have 2 more sides to fix this year.
My biggest plan is to get a puppy to bring up around the chickens, that way it will learn to not eat them. The dog would be good for protection for the flock as well as for us.
I was going to set up a solar panel to run my fridge and freezer, but am leaning towards an lp tank to run my generator instead. The main reason is that during a storm the panels can easily be damaged, rendering them useless when needed most. The secondary reason is with the gas I can run an outdoor kitchen, and even use gas logs in the fireplace. Another benefit to liquid petroleum is it never goes bad, like gasoline which has a short shelf life. I would really like the option of an outdoor kitchen, not just for emergencies but for cooking in the heat of summer as well. I cook on the grill a lot now, but an oven would be great.
repacked my BOB - Bug Out Box
A box of stuff which we will grab and go if need be.
One for each of us. Since the MRS is against prepping, I reckoned she wouldn't mind seeing a couple of small boxes with handles in one corner of my study.
I keep 3 flashlights, 1 pair of working gloves, matches, lighters, hexamine tabs, disposable stove, netting, fishing line, metal water bottle, chemical lights (white), n95 masks etc
Working on multiple Emergency Mylar packs which I mentioned before. Added a new item into the pack. Mini Fishing Chemical Lights.
Also working on Water proof Survival Tins.
Thought alot about food and decided to work on a food plan (more detailed one with pricing of food which I have to buy).
A box of stuff which we will grab and go if need be.
One for each of us. Since the MRS is against prepping, I reckoned she wouldn't mind seeing a couple of small boxes with handles in one corner of my study.
I keep 3 flashlights, 1 pair of working gloves, matches, lighters, hexamine tabs, disposable stove, netting, fishing line, metal water bottle, chemical lights (white), n95 masks etc
Working on multiple Emergency Mylar packs which I mentioned before. Added a new item into the pack. Mini Fishing Chemical Lights.
Also working on Water proof Survival Tins.
Thought alot about food and decided to work on a food plan (more detailed one with pricing of food which I have to buy).
Work was terrible the past 2 weeks tuff tuff . Had 1 day off in 13 days its better now didn't get much prepping done but the garden is growing . Have 1 more day off then go back I may get something done tomarrow .
I basically just used PVC pipe to extend my watering options. I had never really done it before solo prior to that (but had helped a couple of others do it). Worked out great (once I got a couple of small leaks sealed). Now, I wonder how I ever did without it.
Like you, I'm glad to be learning these skills while still a hobby, vs. when really needed. Plus, I figure when I'm older, being a bit more self-sufficient will help out financially.
so far,i'm getting away with using a 75 foot hose,on acount my garden is that close to the faucet..but i'll have to switch over to my 120 foot hose once everything gets going big time..
Well Jim, I hope your garden looks better than mine. Everything we transplanted is dead. Starting over tonight and hoping the second try goes better. Ugh!
better luck with next try newbie..my tomatos are going slower then i care for..but yet.their still going
here's what i keep on the hose for watering.the squeezable handle allows me to water the plants without over watering.and i keep the water bill down as well..the round knob on top allows me to control the water pressure while the faucet is open all the way..i don't remember which store i bought it at.but it was dollar general or wal-mart..
If you can tell us what happened with your tomatoes plants maybe we can help diagnose a cure to save your next crop.
