Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

The rabbits have the swamp cooler set up!! Looks totally redneck, but they are getting a breeze so that's more important.

Plus I got one egg from the chickens today. Yesterday was three. Week before, nothing.

New garden fence is still incomplete, but the post holes are dug. Need to pour the concrete and then hubby can weld the bracing and we can finally finish the fence.

The new orange tree is blooming like crazy, it smells so good. I probably shouldn't let it grow fruit this year though to make it focus on green growth instead.

 

[Baymule]

Pull the orange blossoms, pack in almond oil and set in window with sun. Make your own perfume!

 

[Bruce]

I say we but hubby made it into guacamole salsa and didn't share any

Dare I say "that wasn't very nice"?

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Either I'm sick again, or I have developed allergies. I felt fine yesterday but woke up this morning with greenish crud in my sinuses and I'm congested. Got my nose cleared out a bit but now it's running like a faucet. This is miserable. Going to try flushing my sinuses tonight after I get some distilled water from the store.

The ONE guava which survived the winter, was knocked over by something yesterday morning when I checked on my plants. I pulled it back upright but it doesn't appear to have much root mass. I gave it a support. I should have watered it but spaced because I was trying to get to work. I came home and it was wilty. I watered the heck out of it last night and the smaller leaves seem perky again this morning.

I'm wondering if it's the orange blossoms that are causing a reaction?? I'm not allergic to citrus to my knowledge and love orange juice, but it seems odd that the morning after I have my face right next to these blooms I'm having sinus issues. I thought I had a cold earlier this week but had been near the same plant the prior day.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

It's a cold; my nose has been getting worse, I now have a slight headache and may be getting a fever. Awesome. I think I've gone through a half box of tissues.

 

[Baymule]

What a bummer. I’m sorry that you are sick and feeling bad.

 

[Ridgetop]

I saved the seed and am trying to start it.

My great grandmother raised an avocado tree from a seed at our old house in the 1920's. The trunk was as big around as 3 people could reach their arms. My grandfather wanted to have it grafted for fruit but the nurseryman said that "avocados won't grow in the San Fernando Valley". Wrong! It was huge but rarely produced anything. Make sure you have your young tree grafted to produce fruit. You can probably have several varieties grafted onto the rootstock.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I have started several avocados from seed over the past few years, some are quite big but they are all still in pots. I'm hoping to get them in the ground this winter but I still haven't figured out where they are going to go.

Saturday we had sisters from the church over and they helped me move the tomato and pepper seedlings to individual gallon pots. There were a lot more than I thought but I don't know how many will survive the transplant. If a bunch survive I'll probably give them to others in the church. I still have more pepper seeds that are sprouting and a bunch of lettuce and marigolds that need to get transplanted too.

Sunday I think we are going to take a lazy day.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

The banana plants I ordered arrived last night, these are supposed to fruit! Gran Nain banana and Dwarf Cavendish banana. Need to give them big pots and lots of nitrogen. Not sure where they will go permanently. The two bananas I already had seem to have survived the winter ok and the shorter one actually grew a pup! Not sure when I should separate, it's in a pot that I'm pretty sure will be too small for two plants. Those are non-fruiting ornamental bananas to my knowledge.

The pear tree and elderberry are supposed to arrive Saturday. So I have Sat morning to prep the hole and hoop fence for the pear. I have a walnut and a rootstock almond that need to be planted too. I'm hoping those can get planted and off my list. The elderberry will go into a cloth pot in the new garden.

I've been slowly moving plants over this week from the old garden, the ones I knew would be safe from deer. I am finding a lot more lavender than I knew I had. All need some health trims and fertilizer/bigger pots; eventually I want them in the ground but I don't want to plant them until I figure out if we are going to be able to redo the house and finalize where the garage will go. Once the plants are repotted and in the new garden they will get added to a drip line so more of the garden will be automated and easier to manage.

The deer keep walking right through the new garden zone; there's a buck with antlers growing, they look close to a foot long with knobs on the end. I yelled at him this morning, he took off running. He didn't look huge but definitely bigger than a yearling to my eyes. Maybe we can shoot him this season.

 

[SageHill]

YAY on the bananas!! Hope you get some great eats from the plants.