Rebecca's journal-may be time to restart this

[ToLiveToLaugh]

What has been burned there? Plastic breaks down slowly, but tears will show up really quickly. Anyone who has made a pond knows this about liners. Has any paint, primer, or caustic things like that been dumped there? Has plastic been burned there? If it was all organic burns, like yard debris and food refuse, it's fine. But if it's anything heavier, there's usually a 10 year (I think, you might want to look it up... anyone know?) moratorium on growing anything edible there. You might want to turn it into a recycling center, a new pond, or a flower bed in the meantime if its questionable. Either that, or get a butt load of beneficial nematodes and cover crops to plant for a couple years after stripping out all the soil

(I just don't want you to die horrible deaths! Lol!)

Edited to add- I LOVE pawpaws and am very jealous you're growing them.

 

[rebecca100]

I really don't have a clue what was burned there. Household trash I think. Normally I don't like the idea of reusing a place like that at all since I do know the roots absorb chemicals from the soil, but it is right in our yard and space is very limited and I was trying to think of a way not to lose that space. Plastic can hold up for many years covered with sand under it. But, I may just plant grass there or dig it out completely. I don't know yet.

 

[Farmfresh]

First your garden is in? Man am I jealous!! We still have ice cold mud here.

I have bought quite a bit from Burgess too and the plants always did quite well for me. Sometimes planting them smaller allows them to develop a better root system in the long run.

Maybe you could use the spot for your aquaculture project? I think it is great that your hubby is on board with the plan. GO YOU!!

Keep swinging that hammer and learning.. you will be surprised how good you will get at that carpentry stuff. I was.

 

[rebecca100]

It is the kids first day of Spring Break!!!!! They are making me go nuts and it is barely 9 in the morning!!!!! So now we are making french bread from scratch. Sinve my dh had to pay back almost half his check to cover the stolen money we are now broke, and so another reason for the french bread. It's easy and cheap. I can get all the ingredients for several(at least 4) loaves for less than the cost of 2 or 3 loaves of regular store bread and with all them home and eating bread it will be well worth it to make our own.
We finished our greenhouse Sat. just in time for the snow to miss us. Fortunately it didn't swing south as much as they thought. We never even got below the upper 30's. I hope this was the last of the cold. It has been in the 70's during the day. We put a chimnea in the greenhouse to help get out any chill, but that idea is going to need some improvements like maybe VENTS!!! Come to find out our first try at making a greenhouse turned out to be WAY less drafty than anticipated! During the winter we will probably install our old wood heater and burn newspaper logs(my thoughts anyway).
Yesterday one of my ds's baby rabbits died. He found it in the bottom corner of the nest box. He cried and cried. He is 9 and he gets upset at anything dying, unless it was planned for food. I tried to explain to him that baby animals die, sometimes for no reason. He said it wasn't fair because it was just a baby and never got to grow up. Poor thing. He was depressed for the rest of the day.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Our spring break was last week and we had awesome weather for it! today was their first day back to school, and the house is too quiet. My dd is the same way with animals. When they are for meat, she is okay with it, otherwise not so much. She is 12. We recently lost one our meat breeder rabbits. She was sad.

 

[rebecca100]

Well another dead baby rabbit. Looks like enteritis. Two more have loose bunny bowels. They were at four weeks old yesterday. I am going to try garlic on their feed and see if they will eat it and I also put some in their water. Hopefully they will drink the water. I will check this afternoon to make sure they are still drinking with the garlic in their water. I can't get to the store for meds today, maybe tomorrow. Has anyone here dealt with this not using medicine? I'm going to the grocery store this evening and going to get some yogurt!

 

[Dace]

I am sorry about the bunnies and your broken hearted boy! I wish I had some helpful ideas, but I only have a hug

 

[rebecca100]

Well, today we almost finished the beds in the greenhouse. We used the dirt from the storm shelter, compost and a little rabbit poo to fill them in. We carried and dumped and shoveled nearly 30 wheelbarrow loads. Catfish will be in April 15! YEA!! Well, dh had to pay back the money that was stolen this month and it has really hit us hard. We have about $5 to last us until payday next week. With the chickens laying it really helps. I consider this practice for shtf. Learn now while I can. I have enough beans and rice and chicken to last us for meals. I can't wait until the greenhouse starts producing so i can put up for later. This is definately not the first time we have had no money and I know we will survive it. We have been way worse off before. It just really irks me that some probably methhead stole all that money and left us to struggle because of it.

 

[Farmfresh]

Yeah. Thieves only think about themselves. At least you all are smart enough to survive this.

 

[rebecca100]

I think I have decided to make a decision. Today I was working in the greenhouse and then went to go up the hill to get the mail. By the time I reached the mailbox I was tired and my knees hurt. In the last two and a half years(since dd was born) I have gained weight, am tired all the time, can't remember crap, and am having trouble understanding simple instructions. I used to be a straight A student who could grasp a complex concept and run with it, now I can't rememer how to muliply half the time and I have to read things several times to understand them. It has really depressed me, especially here lately when dh is telling me do this and that and I'm just looking dumb saying "huh?" I really think it has been the constant stress in the last two years, one major thing after another and in the end ending up with no one but dh and the kids left to rely on. Tomorrow I am going to do something, I just don't know what yet. Definately start to work out more(you would think tending animals for an hour and a half a day would be enough!) I am just tired of being tired and my mind not working right!
Anyway, dh may have found a dumpster that we could rent or borrow. One of his friends on the fire dept. recently bought a dumpster business and we are hoping we can rent one from him long enough to clean up this place and the old shed/barn. That would be absolutely great! Also he wants to cut the front off an old explorer we have out back and put it in the hole in a hillside we dug for a storm shelter. I am all for recycling, but vehicles are recycled easily enough without sticking them in the ground. Yes an easy storm shelter would be great since we can't afford concrete right now, but I keep visualizing a small dark cramped hole filled with black widows. He said it would be temp. until we got he money for concrete just in case, but I know how that will work-10 years from now we will still be ducking in an old vehicle stuck in the ground. I do have a fear of storms, but I think it may be best to hold out for the real thing.