Building a Hobby Farm- from woods to eggs

Tororider · Mar 18, 2008

Ok, I will be the first one to say I am going through withdrawals. You must be busy tending to your spinach, or weeding. Hehe

UpstateSC_Papi · Mar 18, 2008

Tororider said:
Ok, I will be the first one to say I am going through withdrawals.

Whew! I'm glad someone else spoke up first. Didn't want to sound needy or longing.

Mmmmmmm... Spinach...

Michael

tony123 · Mar 18, 2008

Come on guys....ya'll are going to swell my head here.

This forum really feels like more than just a "cyber" community.

Yeah, I've been tending spinach all week!

hahaha Here's a shot of the spinach from this evening. Looks like all four rows are coming up. Just got to keep them alive now.

With all the voilent weather we've been having I'm surprised to see the little seeds coming up to tell you the truth.

Speaking of voilent weather, I'm trying to come up with some solutions to save my lower "pasture". This afternoon I cut a "temporary diversion ditch" across the steepest section of the road. My problem is mostly that all the water is racing to the lowest corner (where you see the silt fence in the photos). I'm thinking I'll have to use these diversions until I get something growing to hole the dirt in place. Any ideas?

I'm sure my pace of updates will pick up with warmer weather too. I'm about tired of all this cool and wet. It's got the spirits down. But....I suppose even pretend farmers have to be tough as nails.

Tororider · Mar 18, 2008

Wow, I feel so much better. Now I know I am a junky. I saw in my inbox, "Tony123 has just replied to 'Building a Hobby Farm' that you are subscribed to" I raced, cybernetically speaking, to the forum to get my fix. I can go on for a few more days now.

Afraid I can't be a whole lot of help with the washout problem. Other than digging a sizable trench and lining it and filling it with big boulders, I would try to get something, anything, to grow there as fast as possible.

Good luck, and thanks for the fix.

UpstateSC_Papi · Mar 18, 2008

Tororider said:
Wow, I feel so much better. Now I know I am a junky. I saw in my inbox, "Tony123 has just replied to 'Building a Hobby Farm' that you are subscribed to" I raced, cybernetically speaking, to the forum to get my fix. I can go on for a few more days now.

I might type a reply once I stop laughing. Not because it's so funny, but because it is SO TRUE!! My wife asked me to do something at the same time my email opened up. The wife had to wait!

Diversion - Same boat here tho' across my yard not a garden. I'm thinking going the route of the ditch with some stone. Not sure yet.

Michael

scgargoyle · Mar 19, 2008

Coulda sworn I heard you guys complaining about how DRY it was a few months back- some people are never happy!

WBWI · Mar 19, 2008

scgargoyle said:
Coulda sworn I heard you guys complaining about how DRY it was a few months back- some people are never happy!

LOL - I still have 4-6 inches of snow on the ground and ice on the ponds. Spring is too many weeks away to even think about yet. Our highs are struggling to get into the 40's. Please send some cool weather my way.

Tony, glad too see some green(s) in the garden!

tony123 · Mar 20, 2008

An update:

My diversion ditch did a pretty good job with yesterdays rain. I'll just have to keep that in place. We're getting closer every day to grass seeding season.

Checked the garden this evening. All of my spinach are up. Half of the beets are now breaking the soil. All of the onions are up. And the carrots are pulling up the rear with about a third of them just barely popping up! I'm pleased. It seems to have taken about 2 weeks from planting to germination. Veggie photos to follow this weekend.

CHICKENS! Well, I did call this thread from woods to EGGS.....didn't I? I called the local feed store and they get their shipment in tomorrow morning. I've decided to scale way back for this first season. I've got so many other projects that I don't want to be swamped with chickens.

The plan is to pick up six of them tomorrow morning. I know they're getting Buff Orpingtons, but their will be three other breeds as well. I may just get two of each type.

We just put the boys in the bed and told them what we were getting tomorrow! Everyone's excited!

So stay tuned.... we're farming now!

tony123 · Mar 21, 2008

We're committed now........errrr...or should I say, "we should be committed now"? Either way, the chickens have arrived! I took the boys to the local feed store at noon today and they got to pick out exactly the ones they wanted. Here's a photo when we got home. Boy, do we have some explaining to do when Momma gets home.

They didn't have the breeds they thought they would. So we ended up getting. 2 Black Sex Link; 2 Americanas; and 2 New Hampshire Reds. They should have Buff Orpington's next week, and we may pick up two of those too.

I've got them set up now in a box in the guest bath tub. I have a lamp with 100watt bulb and it is keeping the temp at about 90degrees. Even then, the little guys are staying close to the bulb.

It didn't take long to realize that the large feeder and waterer I had wasn't going to work. So we loaded back up and went and bought the little chick stuff.

I'm thinking they'll stay in the bath tub for at least a few weeks until they can handle the garage.

6 chicks, 5 pounds of medicated starter food, the waterer and feeder all came to $22. So, the little girls don't have to start putting out eggs yet! We'll cut them a little slack...