Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

It's supposed to pour tonight

I'm not ready for the rains to start. After tonight it's supposed to rain off and on for about 2 weeks starting late Sat. I have a lot of running around to do tonight to try to beat the rain getting stuff under cover.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Friday night it rained but I was able to get the tarps up over the quail container and over part of the rabbit zone. Pictures taken this morning. Rabbit zone layout isn't ideal, I need to set it up different to be able to walk all the way around, there's stuff in the way right now (at the side closest to the ladder).

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Saturday I picked up stuff and tried to get more organized. We ran to Home Depot as it wasn't raining and grabbed baseboards, a garden shed, and a battery for the tractor. Hubby worked on the tractor while I worked on garden stuff and prepped a space for the garden shed. It's not really level, but it's level enough for my purposes. The shed is 8'*6'.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Raining all day so far Sunday. The tarp we put over the quail container seems to be working, no leaks noticed where it was previously leaking.

Mom had brother bring over the last of the trees I had at her house, the two giant pots of avocados. One had a mishap when I transplanted it to the bigger pot a month or so ago, so it died back. I'm not sure if it will come back but it didn't help when it fell off the tractor bucket hubby was using to carry it over to the garden zone. Here is a pic of the biggest avocado, I started it from seed in Aug 2017. It's probably close to 5' tall above the soil level and the trunk is probably the diameter of my thumb.

Here is a picture of the tractor, it's a Kubota. We used a chain and the neat little tool we got for less than $20 to pull some t posts out. This was an area that the renters had been using for a compost zone but was in an inconvenient area. Now hubby can level the area here a bit more so we can move the quail container over, then put up a roof between both for a storage zone. We found wire, pvc, and a hoof rasp in the compost pile.

 

[thistlebloom]

That's awesome you have a tractor to use! It will make so many jobs go much faster.
I had no idea you could compost hoof rasps...

 

[Baymule]

I wish I could grow an avocado tree! They grow in the Rio Grande Valley, I was born there, but I don't want to live there. So I guess no avocado tree for me! How long does it take them to bear? Avocadoes are so good!

 

[thistlebloom]

My mom grew one from a pit and moved it with her from So. CA, to Boise ID, back to northern CA right on the coast, where she planted it in the garden. That thing got huge, 10' tall and at least a 10' diameter. It even bloomed most years, but obviously no trees to cross pollinate. Even if it had it was probably too cool to ripen an avocado there. It got hit by frost often but always survived. It was her pride and joy.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

The avocado is from a pit, so supposedly it will take 10+ years to bear fruit. If I graft a scion from a mature tree then it could bear within a year or two. I plan to graft some of the other avocados, but I will probably leave this one to see what it does, or just graft a branch but not the whole thing. You need two types of avocados to bear fruit as one type has male flowers in the morning and female in afternoon, and other type is opposite.

I don't know how well the avocados will grow here, they don't like frost but mature trees may be able to handle the cold a bit better. We shouldn't get snow here so I'm hoping they will grow and I'll get fruit.

 

[Baymule]

Last time I was in the Rio Grande Valley, it was for my Grandma's funeral. I was 21, so that's been a looooooong time ago! We gathered at a cousin's house after the funeral to visit and they had an avocado tree in the backyard on the south side of their 2 story house. The tree was as tall as the house! Full and bushy and loaded with avocadoes, it was impressive. Cousin said that frost would hit the top and freeze it off or it would have been taller. The house protected it. As long as it has been, I still remember that tree-and the grocery bag of avocadoes I took home!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I'm hoping if I plant the more delicate trees on the south side of a building or wall it will do the same thing and create a microclimate to keep the plants warmer. I've been reading about fruit tree walls like they used to use in Europe to do the same thing but not finding a ton of info so far. I have concrete blocks and we have a tractor now, so might just need to get some thermometers and play around and see if it works.