Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Bruce]

I have a rhubarb plant, came with the house so I have no idea how old it is but it was "full grown" when we bought the place 9 years ago. The stalks are good size but unfortunately it is more of a green than red variety. The rhubarb sauce isn't as pretty as what my grandmother in So. Cal made. I would guess that like asparagus, once the stalks are starting to get reasonable size you can take a few without damaging the plant.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I have a rhubarb plant, came with the house so I have no idea how old it is but it was "full grown" when we bought the place 9 years ago. The stalks are good size but unfortunately it is more of a green than red variety. The rhubarb sauce isn't as pretty as what my grandmother in So. Cal made. I would guess that like asparagus, once the stalks are starting to get reasonable size you can take a few without damaging the plant.

Thanks! I guess I should see how much a recipe would use and then decide if I should harvest some. Some of the stalks look as big around as the celery we get at the store, so that should be big enough to use I imagine.

 

[Baymule]

You have some beautiful plants!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Incubator 1 has been going for a week so I candled last night. Lots of development. 74/96 showed life, removed 22 clears. Incubator 2 is 2 days behind, so will candle that one on Wednesday.

We get to go walkthrough the house tonight, take measurements and hopefully see the rest of the property too. I'm getting excited, we are getting closer to the end of escrow.

 

[Bruce]

Thanks! I guess I should see how much a recipe would use and then decide if I should harvest some. Some of the stalks look as big around as the celery we get at the store, so that should be big enough to use I imagine.

If they are as big as a grocery store celery stalk they are plenty big enough!!

 

[thistlebloom]

When you harvest your rhubarb don't cut it. Grasp the stalk down low, by the crown and pull and twist. That will encourage it to send up another stalk, whereas cutting a stalk causes the stump part to just dry and wither.
You can take about half the stalks off your plant, it will be fine.

 

[Bruce]

Sure, NOW you tell me
I guess I'll yank next year.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Power went off this morning, two car crash involving a telephone pole by the freeway, causing a vegetation fire. Freeway stopped both directions. Unknown if injuries.

I was running around freaking out about the incubators but they only dropped to 93° by the time the power came back. I didn't turn the eggs this morning as I didn't want to open the incubators and lose all the heat. They are now almost back to normal temps, so will probably only cause an hour or two delay on the hatch. I didn't get to candle the second incubator eggs last night, will do that tonight.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I candled the eggs in the second incubator last night. Had 143 set, removed 36 clears and 2 early quitters. 105 left in the second incubator, it's so much easier to move the eggs to turn them now. There were one or two that were easy to see into but the rest were difficult to see through the shell. Happy little blobs!

I'm pretty happy with the fertility of the shipped eggs: 180/239 = 75%, and that's after being in the mail for 5 days and then sitting for 3-5 days before making it into the incubator.

 

[Baymule]

Power off is a terrible moment when you have an incubator on! Glad it didn't last long, hope your hatch goes well.