Arbor Day

Last Saturday Me, Jake, Mom and Neighbor Kara all went to the compost fair in Spokane.  They hold the fair every spring and fall. Their are demo's of what to put in compost and what not, types of bins, worm composting and such. It's all very fun and informative, most of which I know since I've been composting somewhat successfully for a while now. The fair was the day after Arbor Day so lots of info, and they were giving away free trees. One stand had maples, oaks, and deciduous type trees. But another gal for the Idaho Forestry Department was giving away Colorado Blue Spruce's which look like this as adults:

The lady gave us each 2 and then asked if we had room to plant them and more, we said yes (because we will eventually) and she gave us a bag of 10, we ended up with 16 trees total. I brought them home and planted them in 1 gallon sized pots, then buried the pots in the ground. I figured this would regulate the root temperature and they would be happier. Thus begins our wind and privacy wall even though they are scarcely 8 inches tall and we have no land yet, oh well no one ever said that I don't plan ahead. 

I have several tree farm spots in my yard that look like this:

Decidedly less impressive than their glorious adult counterpart, but they'll get there... in 10-15 years. *sigh*

adult picture from here.

Half Mulched

Why does mulch melt into the ground? Can't it just stay 6" thick and keep the weeds out. This will be our major weed growing year for the front yard garden. It only has one application of mulch, two on the outer circle. Our little side garden (basically the other side of the driveway-upper right corner) has hardly any weeds in it, but it's been mulched heavily about 4 times and all the perennials are established. Once that happens in the front yard it won't be so much freaking work. Oh well. It's really pretty come high summer and it feeds the bees.

I am actually thinking about growing corn to the left of the A-frame. I should get a pretty good row of it. This will be my first time growing corn, since it's such a heavy feeder and requires lots of space to get anything noteworthy. I have Hopi Blue Corn seeds that I'll grow for corn meal. We don't eat too much corn on the cob so I usually just get that from the farmers market.  Should be fun!

Rabbit Food

The easy answer, pellets. But we didn't want to go there. For one finding organic pellets is a challenge, and secondly they never come in bulk. Before we got these bunz I did TONS of research (big surprise) I am the queen of research. I came across a web forum called Rabbit Talk all the information I could have ever wanted came from right there. Right on the main page they have an entire section titled Natural Feeding For Rabbits. Within that tab is a web page "sticky" that has all the plants (weeds, trees, shrubs) that rabbits can eat. The page is way to long to list hear but I will list you what I have fed on a regular basis so far.

Carrots (both tops and root... I can get the tops from Huckleberries in large bags)
Clover/grass
Raspberry shoots
Apple branches
Willow
Poplar
Dried bean vines from last year
Sunflower sprouts (when I'm not eating them myself)
Wheat grass
Lemon Balm (it comes up so early like a champ!)

On top of all this is their grain ration. I made this recipe from many sources but the bulk of it came from my rabbit book Storey's Guide To Raising Rabbits. Here's the recipe I've settled on, it makes about 1+ month worth of feed, although that's changing now that I have a nursing momma and soon babies that will be eating this too.

17 c. Oats
8 c. Wheat
8 c. Barley
4 c. Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
4. c alfalfa pellets ( only nursing and expectant mothers get this stuff )

Everything is organic except for the sunflower seeds. But I don't fuss over that too much. Right now I have added an alfalfa pellet ( just alfalfa nothing else ) to the mixture to make sure that Big Momma is getting adequate protein. She is expending so much energy producing milk for 8 babies that I don't want her loosing a ton of weight and getting weak. The alfalfa pellet is the most processed thing these bunz eat. I'd say that's pretty good considering most bunz only see pellets and nothing else.  In winter I add 1T. of molasses and 1T water (for dilution) to the above mixture of grains for extra minerals. If I don't have any nursing mothers, all the bunz get 1/3 c. twice a day of the grain mixture. Right now Big Momma gets all the grain she can eat.

They also get free choice hay which I get in the 50lb. bales. The hay comes in two types, alfalfa and alfalfa grass mix sometimes called orchard mix. I am not sure if the hay is organic since I had to purchase it from the feed store because I got the bunz in December. This year I will buy directly from the farmer and I'll ask those questions. Hay is harvested in the fall so that's when I will get it, should be cheaper too since it will be "in season."

Transferring the bunz to this diet was a long and slow process. They were all raised on pellets, so I purchased one bag and made the switch gradually. I had to use a bit extra in the molasses department in order to make the switch official (bunz have a sweet tooth), coercion works every time!  Now they don't have any problem with the new feed. The gal I bought the bunz from insisted that I would kill them if they ate anything other than pellets. I just kept asking the question... "Then how did humans do it before pellets were invented?" Regardless, I did not kill the bunz since they've been going strong on this diet since mid January.

Another very important ingredient in the bunz diet is mineral salt. Which is used for minerals they don't get through the grains. I use the small red wheels that any pet store sells, but in the future I'll get a mineral salt lick (like for goats) and chunk it into smaller cubes then place in a small container for them. The mineral wheels I use now hang on the side of the cage but they are way to expensive and I'm all for cost saving endeavors.

I am sure that feeding this way is more expensive, I have yet to do a cost analysis because I haven't gone through a bag of each grain yet. I am just not sure how long one 45lb. bag of grain lasts. I will figure it out though and report back. Though with each bun only eating 2/3 c. of feed per day.... it's gonna be a while before I have any figures to report.

Size to squalk about

Yesterday I noticed around 11 am that the chickens were particularly noisy, grouchy and vocal. I didn't think much of it since they are just starting out laying. The girls have just shy of 2 weeks under their belt, but not all the girls are laying yet. We've been steadily getting 4 eggs a day, but we should be getting 5, since I have 5 Sussies. Curious hasn't started laying yet and may never start again... who knows. Anyway, long story short.... I went out to the "barn" for the evening feeding of bunz and chicks, opened the nest box and found this!

The picture doesn't do it much justice since the big egg is thicker than the little one, and that doesn't come across in 2D. The giant egg weighs 73g and average egg weighs 49g. That's a 24g difference!!!! Noisy, grouchy, and vocal indeed,  I would have sung my heart out too! I am assuming it comes from Big Bertha, we thought for a while she was a Rooster because that's how much bigger she is than the other girls. (*in exasperated voice* "She's big boned ok!") LOL. I have yet to actually catch her in the nest box, so I think this giant egg was from her. It also stands to reason that since she is so much bigger she'd have bigger lungs and thus be noisier. I'll try to get a picture comparison of her vs. another sussie but I'll need a camera assistant and he's at work right now.

Garden Reset Button

It got down to 24* three nights ago and well below freezing every night since, thus rebooting the garden back to zero.

Plants lost:
1 flat of Danver's Carrots
1 flat of Swiss Chard/ Kale Mix
2 flat's of Spinach
2 flat's of Pea's both snap and shelling
2 flat's and entire Onion crop

It rained and then froze hard over night, the frost was so thick you'd think it was January. We covered plants, but it was too much. So I've started everything but the onions because they take too long to start and won't be ready.

P.S As I am typing this.... here's what it look's like outside. I hate April, she's a bitch.

Weird looking baby bunnies

Baby bunnies remind me of baby mice, all pink and weird looking. This is a video we took Sunday morning, all 8 babies survived so far.

Babbies and Eggs

It's official our Big Mamma just popped! I went out to feed the bunz and chickens this morning at around 6 am, earlier than normal because Jake and I both had pre-work day dentist appointments. It was a good thing to because had I been on my normal route we probably would have lost 2 kits.

Before: (big and preggers)

 
After: (look she has a waistline again)

When I went up to the cage I could tell that the bunz had been born because Mamma was looking rather skinny. She didn't pull much fur to cover the nest, which is another indicator that the babies have arrived. I gave her some treats and took the nestbox inside to to inspect the contents. I found 6 babies in a huddle with one slightly outside the baby pile. That one was moving but not much, it was just too cold. I proceeded to poke around and found another baby, way in the back all by itself not moving at all. Rubbing it I could tell it was alive but only just. So I rearranged the baby pile and fur so they all had a good coating and brought the nestbox upstairs and placed it on the heating pad. Only about 15 minutes did the trick and the two little cold ones were moving and a squeaking.

I got the babies back out with Mamma, but first I put a drop of vanilla extract on her nose, this disrupts her sense of smell so she doesn't smell me on her babies. Rabbits only feed the babies 1-2 times a day, so bringing them inside isn't a big issue. Since it's still going to be below freezing for the next week (insert pissed off grumble here) I plan on bringing the nestbox inside at night and putting it out with her during the day time. I do have the cage covered with a burlap sac, just to help out with the the wind chill. It's 42* outside right now and windy. So anything I can do to help out those kits the better. I also slid a piece of cardboard in between Big Mamma and Confetti's cage's to further help block that wind. If I leave that cardboard in place I'll likely leave the babies in with her overnight, but I haven't decided yet.

Here's the babies in mostly straw with some fur, I know it looks like a bunch of straw in a box but trust me they are in there.

Our baby doe, Confetti isn't so much a baby anymore, she got breed for the first time today. By mid May it will be her turn to be Mamma.

At least two of our Sussies are laying with a possible third. Today is our first 3 egg day, I am not sure if Curious our Buff Orpington is one of the three... but I doubt it. Training them to use the nest box has been difficult. One girl doesn't mind the nestbox and use's it gladly. But the other insists on laying in the dirt. Maddeningly I fought with her over this point for at least an hour. She jumping out of the nestbox and running back down to the dirt, me placing her back in the nest box. Over and over and over. The egg size is cute too, rather small so far but they may get a bit bigger as the girls get into gear.

Red Star egg (purchased from a local farmer), Sussex egg. Just to give a good comparison, I am not sure if the Red Star egg is considered jumbo or just large but it's big. I don't mind the size difference I'll just need an extra egg in the omelet.

The new shed

It took us most of the day on Saturday to put up, we would have finished it but some friends were in town so we went out to dinner. It was pretty simple and as a bonus the directions were written by humans... easy to understand and follow along.

We decided last fall that a shed on site was a necessity, the hay and straw needed storage. All the garden tools kept fighting for space with Jake's woodshop stuff. Plus this will look much better than straw covered in tarps. Being as we are still in the city, we can't go total farm!

Here's the base, we had it off set from the house for several reasons, one because we couldn't cover up the basement window (fire escape and all), two because it curved with the flower bed space. Thus saving us from removing any sprinkler heads.

The poor rabbit hutch in the back ground is still yet to be painted, the chicken coop needs paint too after it's winter renovation.

The finished product is 6x8 with a bonus side nook? for extra tools or at least tools that get accessed more. It's not full yet since I haven't had a chance to move much garden stuff to the backyard.

The brand is Keter, we got it at Costco for $700, steep considering we could build something out of wood for cheeper. But we wanted something that could tear down quickly if need be, and transported out to property (when we find it).

Insanity

Well it's spring time around here and all the jobs are piling up. I am busy on the best of days with a fully working shoulder but now being as I am not fully recovered, I'm swamped. I have to rely heavily on Jacob's "boy strength" because I have super wimpy "girl strength" right now.

I have tons of pictures on the camera, to be posted here.... but that will have to wait until later. In the last week I've repotted just shy of 50 tomato plants, about 20 pepper too. Last night I got all the baby onion starts outside, along with the pea's I started inside about 2 weeks ago.

Jake and I are in the process of building a shed, our garage has to many wood shop tools in it to hold the hay and straw bales plus all the garden tools. Our straw was kept outside under tarps and so far this year we've caught 5 mice and 2 voles in traps, so that straw needs to move inside. Today is the official raising of the shed. It's a plastic thing, but we wanted to be able to take it with us when we move out to land as a temporary housing for what ever we happen to be working on.

Big Mamma doe is preggers (finally), she is due to kindle any day now. I feel so bad for her because she is obviously pregnant, they say some rabbits you can't tell by looking at them.... well it's not so with Big Mamma. I plan to breed our other doe soon after BM has her babies, that way the cycle of baby bunz is 1 month apart.

The new girls the Sussex's have finally started laying. Only two of them so far, and the egg size is adorably small. The old gals, the red star's laid large to extra large eggs and for the small size of bird they were, it was impressive. The Sussies however are big birds and they lay medium sized eggs. I think they would likely make a nice meat bird too since they seem to have a lot of overall heft to them. We'll find out eventually...

I made rabbit-chicken-bacon sausage the other day. I had one bird left from the Halperns and it needed to get used, so I deboned it and a half a rabbit, plus about 4 strips of bacon (mostly fat) all through the meat grinder. I added tons of spices: onion, pepper, garlic, sage, salt, cayenne and chili pepper and made some lean sausage patties. They are pretty good, a valiant first attempt.

More to come later.... I gotta go raise a shed.

How I sprout sunflower seeds part 2 (and wheatgrass too)

I think it's appropriate that I discuss green things today. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! 

Here's the growth continued from the previous post.

I should have uncovered them a day before I did, see they are kinda leggy and looking for sunlight. It really doesn't matter much.

This is day: 7
Picture taken on Monday the 14th. I flipped the lid and kept the sprouts in the dark for an additional day or two. Not really necessary, but I'm just experimenting.

Here they are pretty much ready to eat or harvest, the hulls come off easily with a light tug. To harvest I cut the whole sprout off at root level.

This is day number: 10 Picture taken today Thursday the 17th.

Here's the breakdown of days: Sunday the 6th washing and soaking them over night, sprouting from Monday the 7th through Wednesday the 9th. (previous post) Then the sprouts are covered and grow out from the 9th-13th. Uncover and let there be light from the 13th to today the 17th.

10 days total. These will continue to grow and green up. I can keep them in the tray for about 1 more week before they either start to mold or the sprouts start growing the second set of 'true' leafs. After that point they get tougher and the nutritional level goes down.

For wheatgrass I follow the steps for soaking, and sprouting but they sprout FAST!!  I soaked them on the 9th and began sprouting on the 10th. This is the wheatgrass in it's tray right after I planted it on the 12th. It keeps on par with the sunflowers while sprouting but once it hits soil it grows like a weed. It should be called wheat weed!

This picture was taken today Thursday the 17th, only 8 days total.  It can be harvested now, but I wait another 2-3 days until just before the second blade of grass starts to grow from the root, which is it's optimum nutrition.

Here's some video links to where I got most of my information.

Secrets of Longevity has a 3 part video on growing sunflowers, peas, buckwheat, and wheatgrass for microgreens. Here is part one of his series.

This is SproutPeople's video on growing wheatgrass, there channel has TONS of sprouting info. They do plug their stuff but hey I would too. For sprouting I use sprout peoples "easy sprout" they show it in the video, it's a cool plastic contraption that makes rinsing sprouts easier.

Jacob and I juice the wheatgrass and eat the sunflower greens. I am going to try my hand at pea sprouts next, should be tons of fun. Oh when I am done with a tray, I give it to the chickens, they eat any seeds left and tear the tiny greens apart. This way nothing goes to waste, after I muck out the chicken run it'll all get composted anyway.

How I sprout sunflower seeds part 1

When I sprout sunflowers I use the "black oil" sunflowers that come in bulk at the feed store. I could probably find a more organic resource but since I am not eating the shell or the seed I figure these will be OK. I did use some of the sunflowers that I saved mixed in with the black oil and I couldn't tell the difference, so I assume any sunflower will do.

For one big growing tray (the plastic kind you find near most seed starting racks) I used just shy of 1 cup of seeds. I am still playing with that measurement, I think next time I'll try a heaping 1 cup. The tray I just did seemed a little light on the sprouts. Anyway, rinse the seeds off and soak them over night. After that it's the traditional sprouting technique, of rinsing the seeds so they stay moist (about 2-3 times a day), until they look like this: (it takes about 2-3 days to sprout)

Here they are close up after I put them on top of the soil in the tray.

Then I get a tray ready with about one inch of soil mix, and evenly spread out the sunflower seeds. I have heard they grow better or at least have stronger roots if you simulate the weight of the dirt they'd normally be pushing up through. Since I don't cover my seeds with soil, I add an extra tray or two and maybe a book just to add weight. Water them well, make sure they stay moist and leave them until they start to push the weighted tray off them (seeds are strong!)

Here's the sunflower seed tray before I put the covers on. They've been watered and are ready to go.

After. (Just so ya'll get what I'm talking about)

Now just make sure they stay moist. I keep them in the dark until they are around 1-2 inches tall. Then I put them under the grow lights. I'll do a part two and take more pictures as they grow.

Sprouting

I've started trying to grow micro-greens. In the winter time we get virtually no green things because we don't have a winter growing set up for outside. That being one of the many things I intend to do late fall of 2011, but that's a long way off. In the mean time we've been looking into sprouting greens.  This tray of sunflowers is over crowded, I started too many sprouts... oops.

I have 2 trays of sunflowers and wheat grass in varying stages of growth. The sunflower for things like salads and the wheat grass for juicing. We don't have a juicer but intend to use our new blender (whenever it arrives) to get the juice!

Our sunflower sprout salad, with feta cheese, roasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Topped with homemade vinaigrette. When I first started this Jake had is doubts... "this is going to taste yucky..." but it turns out we both really like it. I like the texture so much more than lettuce!  

In other sprouting news the baby onion starts are up, I put them all in one giant tray this year with the intention of transplanting them. I put the onions outside last year and they were no bigger than a red stir straw. Maybe I should have started them earlier and also transplanted them? I have to do some major research into the best way to proceed. Last year they did ok but I'd like some bigger onions so I'll have to think on that some more.  

I don't have to much else started, as much as I want to! I started the tomatoes a bit early and had GIANT tomato plants to haul in and out while hardening off.

Just a bunch of stuff

I got a gift in the mail last week, don't you just love surprises that turn out to be awesome? My mother in law, MJ sent me a hat! She is a super knitter and makes really beautiful hats. I have one that's square and bright red, so when I put it on my head I have ears, you can't see the ears but I'm wearing the hat in my profile pic. Anywhoo.... I got a squishy envelope on Thursday with a glorious royal purple hat! My favorite color to boot. I was needing a special gift that day because of shoulder issues (again..), so this was just what I needed.

I am working on another rug for our front door this time. We have a towel right now, and it does look kinda lame. Not that I really care but making a rug gives me a project and gently works out my shoulder at the same time. It's the same log cabin style as the last rug I made. It's pretty much the only knitting I know how to do because it's the same stitch over and over again. I am using cotton yarn again because I wanted it to be super absorbent since it will house wet shoes.

I noticed some of our garlic in the giant braid is starting to sprout a tiny bit. I took about 9 cloves and roasted them in the oven. Then I took them out of the skin and individually froze the garlic cloves on a cookie sheet. After they were good and frozen I stuck them in a freezer bag. Now I'll have roasted garlic for a recipe with out the 45 minute cook time. I forgot to take pictures along the way, oh well.

I am getting so antsy for spring to arrive... ugh!