Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[SageHill]

When we were building our monstrous place in Murphys CA, we lived in a used fifth wheel. It was soooooo hot! So the workers rigged some camo shade cloth over top of the trailer, about 4 feet up, with about 4 ft on each side. It made a HUGE difference in the Calif foothills heat!

Ah yeah - we did the same but did it when it was hot and then raining ‘best’ of the both

 

[Baymule]

I’ve never grown it, but I understand that horseradish will take over. Might want to get the escapees rounded up! Maybe a raised bed to contain it?

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I’ve never grown it, but I understand that horseradish will take over. Might want to get the escapees rounded up! Maybe a raised bed to contain it?

Yep, it can spread by roots and be very difficult to remove. I'm not too worried because I can't dig much right now, the belly won't let me. Hubby has to be badgered into helping with plants, so if the horseradish grows, it grows. I'll deal with it later after the baby is here and I can move again. Plus if I wait till it's bigger, then I might get some useable roots when I dig it up. Hubby's family likes horseradish sauce, so eventually I want to be able to make a sauce for them.

 

[Ridgetop]

a permanent bed for the rhubarb.

You can plant rhubarb alongside the house as a foundation planting. It looks real pretty and eliminates the need for "extra" landscaping.

Be careful with the artichokes - if you let them flower they are gorgeous, but you will be fighting upstart plants all over the garden! Either pick the artichokes or pick the flowers for the house as soon as they open. DH planted them one year and they were wonderful. Our chokes themselves never amounted to much, but the blooms were spectacular in the house!!

 

[Bruce]

I go to say or type something and the word is just gone, I know the description, but can't remember the actual word. Very frustrating.

Join the crowd. Only I'm not pregnant, just getting old!

I’ve never grown it, but I understand that horseradish will take over. Might want to get the escapees rounded up! Maybe a raised bed to contain it?

Also true of mint. Better to plant those things in pots or raised beds or you may have nothing but those plants in the garden. We have some plant, I have no idea what it is, taking over every part of the yard. Seems the only way to get rid if it is to dig it out and there is WAY too much. It has spread (by seed I guess) to the garden 150' from where it started on the other side of the house. I don't know if it was a "gift" planted by the prior owners or wild sowed itself. It is a great ground cover if that is what you want though

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

My aunt had a duplex way long ago, that the front "yard" was mint. The whole thing. I don't know if the previous person did it on purpose or not, but I think it took a long long time to get rid of.

My mom was gifted yarrow, and she planted it in the garden before determining she didn't like how it looked. It took her a few years to get it to stop regrowing when she would dig it out.

I am trying to grow yarrow on purpose for its medicinal properties, but I think I may have killed it. I think I killed my mint plant too. I'll find out this weekend during the great plant migration; when we move as many plants as possible from the old garden to the new garden and get the drip system set up.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Saw a cute listing next town over for bacon bits, looked like the black and white breed. Showed it to hubby but we aren't ready for pigs yet. Maybe next year after the bunny barn is done we can build the pig barn as a Baymule style pig palace.

I think this weekend I'm going to go to the chicken auction and get rid of a rooster and the two half leghorn hens. Something is eating their eggs and since I'm not getting anything out of them I don't want to be feeding them. Maybe I'll take the three extra Rex bucks too, although I wish we could just butcher those instead. Probably not going to get much money for them.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Didn't go to chicken auction today, will aim for the August one. Animals were fine this morning, just checked on them now and all the chickens were out of water. Refilled everyone and now they are much happier. Got two eggs from the half leghorn hens.

Rabbits are panting but still look ok. Would bet they would be a lot worse without the additional shade cloth and the misters. Hubby still hasn't fixed the swamp cooler. Grr.

Seeds I started last week in damp paper towels are sprouting, need to get them into some dirt, then when they have a bit more roots and it's cooler, I can transplant into the garden tilled zone. I'm excited for zucchini!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Got all the sprouted squash into seed trays. Black zucchini, gray zucchini, straightneck squash, pink banana squash, spaghetti squash, and pickling cucumbers. I think this is the first time I have started cucumber seeds; they smelled strongly of cucumber. The honeynut squash and yellow scallop squash haven't germinated yet; those seeds are older so might not be viable. I put them back into their paper towels and will give them a few more days.

The black beans and pinto beans were sprouting, and since I did two whole seed packs each I planted those directly into the tilled garden rows. Two full rows of black beans, and two almost full rows of pinto beans. I'll have to fill in the edges with peas or green beans or something once I figure out where the plants stop.

The beans got planted in the dark by flashlight, since we have been running errands all day and finally got home and got the munchkin ready for bed. I think the neighbors probably think we are weird.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

After planting the beans I almost went inside to relax, but realized I hadn't done night check for the rabbits. I had turned off the misters when we got home during daylight but hadn't given them their feeders back and fed them. I start putting the feeders in and get to the far row when I hear something weird, like rustling dry grass, sounding like it's coming from the garden. I stomp my foot and growl towards it and now it sounds like water. Not good. I scooted back to the middle of the bunny aisle and grabbed the water hose and sprayed towards where I thought the sound was coming from. Definitely sounds like water again.

I call hubby for backup and he came out with a stronger flashlight and a broom. He starts poking around the plant pots and figures out the general area while I go find a shovel. I found the one that's for chopping through roots, which seems perfect for dealing with snakes. I returned to hubby and badgered him into handing me the better flashlight so I could try to spot the snake. We found it curled up between several plant pots; definitely a rattlesnake, probably 2 foot long? I moved the plant pots out of the way one by one after making sure I wasn't going to grab anywhere near the snake.

Hubby jabbed the snake with the shovel but it slithered off very quickly. I don't know how injured it was but it was a lot faster than I thought a snake would be. I'm hoping it's gone off to die. I will be carrying the snake shovel around with me for the foreseeable future and trying to complete all outside chores during daylight hours. Watering the garden will be interesting tomorrow. It might consist of whacking the vegetation several times before attempting to maneuver up to or past it. I'll also be moving more of the plants to the new garden so there's room to move around and not get surprised by slithery critters.