Growing Updates

To help gauge how long it's been, I'll try to start adding this at the top of the post.

Days in the Ground

Lettuce	43
Potatoes	16
Carrots	16
Onions	16
Peas	2
Nasturtiums	2

The Red Noreland potatoes are growing like crazy!  The Yukon Gold, on the other hand, still haven't sprouted above the surface.  Oh well, eventually they'll make their way up here.

I saw a handful of carrot sprouts today, after the rain.  They are teeny tiny.  Shouldn't be too long before they are sticking up out of the ground like the onions.  They're growing so fast you could probably sit there 5 minutes and notice a visible change, lol.

Yesterday I spent a couple hours moving the compost bins to a secluded part of the yard.  They were attracting lots of bugs, especially woodlouse (aka rollie pollies).  Well, rollie pollies were neat as a kid, but now I realize that they eat tender seedlings, so they're enemy #1 at the moment.  I boiled some water and yeast, and filled 2 cups I sunk in the ground.  Woodlouse smell it, walk on over, fall in, and die.  Victory! (in a twisted sort of way)  When I went back out today, I found even more of the woodlice in the compost bin...unfortunately these were not dead.  Is having woodlice, along with lots of other bugs and critters, in the compost bin okay?  Hope so...

Last but not least, with our oh-so-wonderful hail-filled Springs, here in North Texas, I needed to buy some type of protection.  I went down to the hardware store and let my mind run wild.  Then I told it "I'm not made of money" and let it run less wild.  I picked up eight 3/8" x 1ft bars of Rebar, and four 1/2" x 10 ft. PVC pipes.  I also went to the paint department and grabbed a 10 ft. x 20 ft. sheet of plastic dropcloth.  A fairly simple design: 

1. 4 bars of Rebar at each corner of the raised bed, stuck in the ground.  
2. Stick the PVC pipe on the Rebar, bend over to another corner, and stick that end on the other Rebar.  

I found it to be surprisingly stable.  Who knew!?  So, the next time there is a freeze (Sunday, perhaps) or hail in the forecast, we'll just run out there, snap them into position, and run back inside.  What could possibly go wrong? :-D

Finally

The seeds are in!

From Blog Photos

So I gathered my Vermiculite, Compost (more on that in a minute), and Peat Moss. 1/3 to 1/3 to 1/3 ratio of each, and you have "Mel's Mix" - perfect soil. Add that into the pots, put a few seeds in each, and here's what we have:

From Blog Photos

The compost ordeal - well, I tried making a compost bin. It was mildly successful until I added all those Oak leaves. It probably will get going eventually, but I had to bite the bullet and buy ~100 lbs. of organic compost from the store. I bought all different kinds, then mixed them together - that way it's a good "overall" mix like in a regular compost bin.

Hopefully those seeds will start sprouting up in a couple weeks.

I didn't need to dream of a white Christmas...

Instead, I just went outside.

From Blog Photos

That's my house. You'll notice on the right, the truck is not in the driveway. I'll let you figure out why :)

Here's my wife and one of my sisters making snow angels at my Mom's house Christmas Eve.

From Blog Photos

I've also spent a good deal of time working on getting the garden ready. Here's our two 4x4 plots fenced in, with the compost bins in the middle. There will possibly be another 2x12 plot behind those, where I might try to grow corn. I'm still not sure how or if I'm going to do that.

From Blog Photos

The compost bins, and the compost-maker.

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

Last but not least, here's what started about 30 minutes ago.

From Blog Photos

Thank you, ma'am

Today I made a significant step in my quest for homesteading. I made my first ever purchase at a feed store.


Okay, okay, maybe I am stretching that just a tad.

But in all seriousness, I needed to pick up some feed for the rabbit. Sometimes, the simplest (and cheapest) answers are right beneath our noses. I scoured the local pet stores, department stores, and even specialty stores for feed.

Department stores - extremely small quantities of feed at extremely high prices.
Pet stores - limited varieties of feed, and very high prices (averaged $40 / 25 lb. feed.

The local feed mill provided me a good brand, Purina, at an incredible price. $12.50 for a 50 lb. bag. Not only that, but the store attendant carried the bag to my truck and loaded it in the bed. My wife believes (and she may be right) that the feed store might just be my new favorite place. THEY HAVE EVERYTHING!!!

If one day I end up moving a tad south of here, but still close enough, I will be using this place for all my primary farm needs. You don't get polite, personal service at your local pet store, and you sure as heck don't get it at a department store.

So that was a good end to a rough few days. Katie's grandparents' house (up to the north in Arlington) was burglarized in the middle of the day. Not only that, but the next evening, Katie's school was burglarized. I expect a lot more burglaries (and for the criminals to become more bold) as the economy gets worse and Christmas gets closer.

Remember folks, if you don't have a firearm for self defense in your house, it could save your life. The teenagers who burglarized her grandparents house had a large butcher knife that they left in a chair in the living room. I truly thanked God that no one was there, as who knows what might have happened.

Last thing, a quick note for any of you with compost bins. Oak leaves are NOT "browns" but rather "greens". It turns out, that is what caused my compost pile to stall for several weeks. It seems to be back up and running after some fresh "ingredients."

Have a pleasant week!

The Composting Game

Well the leaves are starting to fall "in force." My favorite game of "ask strangers for their [insert composting material]" strikes again.

I got a 55 gallon trash bag full of leaves. Woo hoo!

Dangit!

Do not put eggs in your compost bin.

Not much to say today. I just know if I start missing days, I'll never be back. Good night all, and have a pleasant Wednesday.

How to look crazy, steps 1 and 2

So the other day, I was driving home and I called my sister
"Hey, I have a strange question"
sis: "umm, okay, what is it?"
"You know how you have a rabbit you're raising for FFA?"
sis: "yea?"
"Can I have it's poop?"
...silence...
sis: "what!?!???"
"It's for my compost pile!"

lol, so that was one strange conversation. Then, I got off the phone, and pulled into my driveway. Across the street, the house that is still empty had a crew working on the landscaping. I hesitated for a sec, then ran across the street. I asked him if he was just going to throw that grass away. He looked at me like I was insane for a minute, and said yes. I asked him if I could keep a bag of it. Now he was SURE I was certifiably insane...but, he said sure. I grabbed it (WOW that was a heavy bag) and ran back across the street.

^^ above is a post, shortened a tad, I made on the CAF Locals website. ^^

So here are a few pics of my recycle bin area. I got inspired from a TV show about a couple who recycles a lot of stuff they have laying around, and turns it into useful things. I thought I would try the same, so here's what I've got.

Compost bin - a large tub which originally contained grain or minerals for cattle. Got it for free from my grandpa.
Rotation bar - I was throwing out an old broken lamp, when it occured to me it was really just a bunch of pieces screwed together. I have turned that lamp into about 4 things now.
Frame - Just some spare wood pieces I had from random projects.

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

So far we have composted the following items from around the house.
Bell Peppers
Bananas
Shredded newspaper
Dryer lint
Grass clippings
Rabbit droppings
Eggshells
Bread
Napkins

Doing this not only helps out your garden, but helps get rid of a lot of other stuff that normally just gets thrown in the trash. Save a few trash bags a year!

Thanks for checking out the blog.