Search results

If you have a balcony think vertical. You can get some 4x4 pieces of limber cut to 6' or so, brace the bottoms so the stand up, and add hooks every foot or so for hanging potted plants. Tomatoes and strawberries do well vertically, ir so i hear. BTW i LOVE that fish tank lettuce idea.

Genius! I was out this morning looking at the area and thinking i would double it anyway - a full year, 52 paddocks to cover just over an acre. That way i can include things like kale and garlic through the winter. Are there any cover crops that grow quickly and can double as pig feed once...

This was one of my original concerns, actually. Is there a guideline on how to wait to plant after applying fresh manure? FWIW I would also plan to add cow and / or donkey manures somewhere in the chain too...

Because in my head it is a great idea! And that's usually the first sign of trouble.... The concept is to run a few pigs through an area to till it all up for about a week. The area is 16' by 32' comprised of 6 hog panels in a rectangle. After a week they move to the next area and in come the...

Yes! I'm between the Murf and Eagleville.

I have about a half acre of property that is currently a hay field dedicated for overwinter feed for livestock. I am wondering if replacing that field with grains (oats, rye, etc.) would be a better use of the land. Would I get more calories per square foot via hay or grain growing? Both would...

Thanks - all good advice. Goats are not an option for me though - my fencing isn't suitable, and the wife really hates them. :/ With the extra milk, I was thinking I could clabber it and give it to the dog and chickens, rather than pigs - thus solving at least a big part of my original question...

Gotcha. Thanks, all - that's what I expected.

This winter, I will be building some hugelkulturs out of various felled tress on the property. I also have an orchard I want to control ground vegetation in. I was wondering if coating the mounds and orchard floor in burlap would prevent weed and grass growth. My concern would be that the spaces...

Thanks. Great advice. I am already planning to move the chickens into our garden area to "clean up" for the winter. Will apply this to the orchard when it gets going (still kinda small, not producing fruit yet). Really?!! I have been repeatedly hearing one cow per acre and 5 sheep per acre is...

Thanks everyone. These are all excellent ideas. My main issue right now is the complete lack of perimeter fencing. Free ranging is out. They were escaping and getting into the garden, into the neighbor's porch, on the street, etc. I have my chickens and sheep in movable electric netting right...

Or, to put it in a complete sentence: How does one provide a complete nutrition for dual-purpose chickens without buying anything from the store? I understand that raw milk products, free ranging, sunflower seeds, oats/corn, etc. can all contribute to a balanced diet. What would be the ideal...

Awesome info everyone. Thank you. Seems like the protein levels are good, the Ca:P is good, the lactose is broken down in the clabbering process...Provided some raw bones for dental health (usually 1 a day), are there any other reasons that clabber as a diet staple is NOT good?

I thought about this today, and it seemed odd to me. Doesn't a dog's "natural" diet consist mostly of meat, which is very high in protein? This sounds EXCELLENT. We'll have plenty of garden veggies, and are planning on growing small oats and corn patches next year as well. So I could, in...

Well kiss my grits. Ya learn something new every day. Thanks for correcting this misconception.

Thanks. I'm weighing (pun intended) the options on getting a milk cow next year, and replacing my dog food bill whilst using excess milk makes it more economically viable. Just planning and gathering info right now. I appreciate the input.

OK, good to know. What is the protein % on clabber? I'm leaning toward a cow in the spring, and would like to have the added benefit of getting off bagged dog food. :/ Seems like this will only be able to be part of the solution...

I know, it's exceedingly rare and overblown. BUT, it is the shell surface, and not the interior of the egg itself, that contains the bacteria. The egg itself canget rotten, but not in the food-poisoning kind of way.

So earlier this week, I discovered the concept of clabber (i.e., curds and whey). I had never heard of it before, outside of the nursery rhyme, but now my mind is racing with possibilities. One is to completely replace my dog's food with clabber! He currently eats between 1 and 2 pounds a day of...

That does help, thanks. The inner tube is a great idea. Was it an old tire, or something different? Trying to get a visual....