Ideas

I was thinking about how I am going to clean out the chicken coop and get all of the bedding out to the field to put down in the garden. The coop is not easily accessible to simply shovel out and toss straight into the back of the truck. I was going to take the bedding out a 5-gallon bucket at a time and throw it into the truck, but my sister said to put the bedding into big garbage bags. As I thought about that, I think it may be a pretty good idea. If I get a box of good quality black plastic garbage bags, I can bag the bedding up a couple of bags at a time over the next couple of weeks. I can put the bags in the sun where the bedding will continue to compost. Then, when I'm ready to turnover the garden, the final clean out of the coop won't take but a couple of hours. I can shoo the chickens out into the yard while I disinfect the coop and air it out, and I can easily toss the bagged bedding into the back of truck and head out to the field. When I'm ready, I can turnover the garden area, make my raised beds and selectively work the bedding into specific beds or spread the bedding over the entire garden area as I decide. I'll think about that some more. If I work the bedding into specific beds, it seems I wouldn't waste any bedding by having it fall into walk ways. And by purchasing good quality bags, I can re-use them if I store them properly. Anyway, I thought I would write this idea down before I forgot it. When you don't have a lot of equipment, you just have to work with what you do have!

One month till Spring

Well, we made it through this past cold spell all right. I was worried about the chickens, and they were indeed "frosty" when I checked on them, especially after the second -40F night, but I didn't lose any of them. I shoveled most of the bedding against the coop wall and threw down a bag of fresh wood shavings on the floor. Then I lowered the brooder lights (I have 3 lights with 125w bulbs) closer to the roost. When I went to check on them the first cold morning (when it went down to -35F), all the eggs were frozen, but the chickens had burrowed down into the fresh wood shavings and stayed warm. They lined up for me to hold them inside my coat! I held each one and warmed their feet. My rotten roosters especially like being held, but I prefer to hold the poor bald hens. I know I have way too many roosters, but I don't think my tiny flock would have made it this far through the winter with lower numbers. At least the roosters keep everybody moving.

I have been doing research on solar heating, and I am going to put together a solar window heater for the big south facing window in the chicken coop. I can't find anyone that has used solar heat for any of their livestock buildings up here, but I certainly think there is enough sunshine at this latitude to use solar energy for multiple applications. The chicken coop will be a good starter project. I need to figure out how to store the heat produced by the window heater for overnight use. I know I can certainly scrounge the materials I need to make it. I want to look around at kinds of insulation for the interior of the coop, as well -- moisture resistance, R value and all that. When I get it all done, I'll post pictures and full instructions. I have to do something because we got a letter from the electric company saying they are raising their prices big time because of their fuel transportation costs. I'm going to replace all the light bulbs in the house with those more expensive energy efficient bulbs, too. I have had people give me conflicting comments on the performance of those bulbs, so I'll just have to try them for myself and see how cost effective they are.

Looking at the picture (top) of my grandfather's barn being built back around 1930-1931 got me thinking about getting work done, and while I may not be able to do much outside because of all the snow, I have been busy inside. I ordered most of my seeds, plants, and seed starting supplies. I am still thinking about getting some strawberries and a couple of crabapple trees, but I'm not sure yet. I went to Fleet Farm in Marshfield and bought shop lights for starting seeds the end of April down in the basement. And I will have plenty to keep me busy once the snow melts -- like cleaning out the chicken coop and hauling all the winter's bedding out to spread on the field. I have over 150 kinds of seeds, not including the plants I've ordered to put in the garden, although some of the seeds are old and may not germinate well. I created a database document of all my seeds and sorted it by type of plant. Then I sat down and graphed out the garden using wide rows, raised beds, and blocks in two half acre sections. It took me about two good weeks playing around with this and that factor before I came up with a planting and rotation plan I am happy with. I'll have to wait and see how it works now. I'm using interplanting with companion plants for pest management and possible enhancement of food flavor. With the raised beds and wide rows, everything will be intensively planted. The block sections are for flour corn, sunflowers, pole beans, spring wheat, and pumpkins. It will be interesting, no matter what happens. If I can get a third half acre section turned over, I'll put the beans there.

I guess I'm starting to come down with Spring fever!

Resolutions

New snow this morning made the gray day bright. I spent the morning cleaning the house. Later, I put together a seven shelf metal unit using the 18v cordless drill driver I got for Christmas. Boy, is that tool nice! I can't wait till the temperature warms up a bit so I can use it to start putting together my high tunnel! Resolution 1: Put up the high tunnel. Anyway, I was able to put all my canning jars on the two 7 shelf units and put most of the "stuff" in boxes that was on the floor up on the larger 4 shelf unit that the canning jars used to fill. I feel MUCH more organized. Now I will start going through all of the "stuff" and select the items I will sell this summer with my produce. By the way, I don't have a picture yet of this year's snow yet so I thought I would post an old picture taken on my Dad's farm of winter time. The ice on the trees was really beautiful.

I went to Fleet Farm after I drove our Sarah to the Amtrack Station to head back to college. I bought (I hope) enough supplies and tools to finish the fence. All I will have to build then is the gate. I should have enough insulators to run one hot wire between the top of the lower woven wire level and the first strand of smooth wire that is already tacked up. Right now the deer just go sailing between that area. Resolution 2:Finish the fence.

I've ordered more currants, gooseberries, horseradish and rhubarb roots to plant. Bought some more organic wheat from Johnnies in Maine. I still have some more seeds to order and need to get the seed potatoes. I like to get mine from Ronnigers. They are a small family potato farm. They are organic and have a nice heirloom selection. I will have 1/2 acre in vegetables, and 1/2 acre in oats, wheat, peas, and sunflowers. I don't have any harvesting equipment so I have to keep plantings small enough to handle by hand. I will sit down in a few days and work out the garden plan and finalize my rotation. I am really looking forward to planting! Resolution 3: Finalize the garden and rotation plan.

So far my tiny flock of Dominique chickens are tolerating the cold pretty well. I lost one hen. She was my tiniest hen and I think the roosters may have killed her. She was the hen that always laid the double yolk eggs. I think she was the one that laid the triple yolk egg, too. I took a picture of that egg and will post it when I get the roll developed. Perhaps laying those double yolks all the time was a defect. I don't really know. The rest of the chickens are doing all right. I have three brooder lights inside the coop for heat and turn the bedding over every day. When the days are warmer, the bedding really starts to cook. It can be almost balmy inside the coop. I leave the outside door open to help freshen the air and lower ammonia levels, and I toss around a bag of wood shavings to absorb excess moisture. We have a nice big picture window that we scrounged and put in the south wall of the coop. It helps the coop warm up on a sunny day. I really like having chickens and am thinking about ordering a few more. I'd like to keep about 50. Resolution 4: Order more chicks -- from a different source than last year.

I received a comment from a forest ranger in West Virginia. He invited me to read his blog, which I did. It's nice to read about what other people think and do. It's sort of like mini-histories that document the era.

I'm fixing rhubarb grunt and venison stroganoff for supper so I have to leave off for now. Until next time. . . .