Homesteading

By Juleigh Howard-Hobson

Mirrored flush-mounted bathroom medicine cabinets are easily one of the most non-upcycled objects out there. They are short and shallow. They don’t stand by themselves. And, frankly, they aren’t very nice to look at once they are out of their recessed wall enclosure.

But, the thing is, just about every house has one…sometimes two or more. You can pick them up for a song at garage sales, rebuilding centers or CraigsList. Sometimes they are free at all these places because very few people actually want old medicine cabinets. New ones are cheap. Also, old ones are frequently….um….not as fastidiously clean as one would prefer.

All to the good, my friends.

You see, old medicine cabinets may seem useless if you look at them as cabinets, but if you look at them as hinged lid boxes….well….the possibilities to use them for are vastly improved.

One of the things they are great for, once you see them as a box, is as a seed starter box.

First, you must take all the shelves out. If you are lucky, they are clear glass shelves that you can tape together to make a nice glass sheet out of. Most medicine cabinets seem to have these sorts of shelves. If yours doesn’t, don’t despair,  use a piece of window glass or clear plastic or even cling wrap instead of the taped glass sheet.  Put the glass away for now.

Second, you have to rehang the door of the cabinet. The mirror needs to face into the opening. I’ll get to why this is so later in this article.  Pull the pins out of the hinge, separate the two pieces.

Take the mirror out of its housing, then mount a door hinge to the mirror housing, put the mirror back in, and mount the other side of the door hinge to the metal frame of the cabinet.

It doesn’t have to shut like a lid or a door, it just has to move back and forth.

Third, take the wood and cut the middle out of it. Basically, you are making a frame. Now, tape or glue the glass(or plastic)  to this.

Line the interior of the cabinet with the aluminum foil. Top with the glass/wood frame.

Now, angle the mirrored door above the open part of the cabinet so that the most light possible enters the box. This is how the box will get warm enough to germinate seeds.

You can move this anywhere you want, because it is light and portable, making it a very handy sun catcher.

Put starter pots of seeds in it, water them. Set the glass frame in place. Then angle the mirror to catch the most light and there you have it. A seed starter you can use in any climate. We just used ours to germinate kale and cabbage seeds in early November.

An added bonus to this is that you can also use it to cook some foods. It’s a little small to be a powerful solar oven, and it is much slower, but it got a lentil dish cooked in time for dinner when we tried it out. (We used a sweet and sour lentil recipe adapted from Jay Solomon’s Lean Bean Cookbook)

Supply list:

• 1 Medicine cabinet
• 2 Old hinges (old door hinges work well)
• As many screws as needed for the hinges
• 1 Piece of wood the same size as the cabinet
• Packing tape (or a piece of glass/clear plastic smaller than the piece of wood above, or cling wrap)
• Aluminum foil
• Saw, hammer, screwdriver etc
• Seeds, seed starter pots, water
• Sunlight

by Jane W

My interest in chickens began at age three when my grandmother would allow me to gather eggs from the nests in the chicken house at their farm. I learned from her to be observant and gentle with animals. When my own child reached that age, I wanted to share some of that magic with him and began considering raising chickens.

As an avid reader of Mother Earth News, Organic Gardening magazine and other Rodale Press publications (click here to see a full listing of Rodale Press books at Amazon.com), I felt I had enough information to begin.

I knew I had to protect the chickens from the weather and predators so I purchased a large roll of one inch chicken wire and 1 X 4 X 8 boards to fence a small area outside an old building that had previously been used as a chicken house on our “postage stamp sized” farm in the mountains of Virginia.

When the outdoor ” cage” (it was covered with wire also, so hawks could not fly in and so the chickens could not fly out) was finished, I built nest boxes out of scrap 2 X 4s and plywood and filled them with hay, and built a small ramp for the chickens to use to enter and exit the building through a 8 X 8 inch hole in the outside wall.

A heat lamp was hung from the existing light socket, automatic feeder (this automatic feeder at Amazon.com is awesome), and waterer, and the four chickens I purchased from the local flea market were added. I realized after a few days that chickens do not pick a nest as their own and use that one for themselves. They pick a “community” nest or two.

It is not necessary to have a nest for each chicken which can save a lot of work and money if you have a large flock of chickens. It pays to spend some time in the chicken house in the mornings when the hens are laying to see how many nests are being used at the same time. Some chickens will wait their turn for a chosen nest if it is busy instead of using another nest.

I would wear a mask ( you can get seriously sick from breathing dust from chicken droppings) and gently rake and sweep up the hay, shavings and droppings on the floor (this was composted along with the horse and cow manure from the barn and later used on the garden as “organic fertilizer”) , wash out and refill the waterer and feeder and observe the chickens.

I got the hens used to me reaching under them to gather the eggs and I never got seriously pecked. Some would gently peck at my hand but I never got injured. One hen would even hop on my lap to be petted if I squatted down.

The chickens settled in pretty well. However, I soon realized, all I needed to know about them wasn’t in the neat little articles I read in magazines. A few days after settling the chickens into their home, my son left the gate open to the fenced outside area and the chickens all got out. The herding dog we had, thought it was great fun to chase them and the chickens ended up in a tree.

Who knew chickens could fly! I put the dog in the house and used a broom to encourage the chickens to come down out of the tree and back in their yard. This took at least an hour and I began to realize “chicken training” and “dog training” were both in order.

On another day later that week, the dog was taken in the chicken yard on a leash and properly introduced to the chickens and not allowed to chase them or be aggressive toward them. Over the next week, they became used to each other and the “chasing game” never happened again. My neighbors, all over 80 years of age, had first-hand experience with chickens and suggested clipping the wing feathers on only one wing of the hens.

This created an imbalance so the chickens could not fly easily. The chickens could still run and escape any threat when outside their area, but not get 12 feet up in a tree. To do this you hold the chickens upside down by their feet. They essentially “go to sleep” and are easy to handle this way.

If you run after a chicken, it will outrun you and unless you have a net (which I did have later to catch the roosters). The easiest time to catch them is when they are on a nest after laying. Just slide your hand under them and grab both feet at the same time, They will flap their wings and try to get away, but holding them by the feet with their heads hanging down will stop this readily and you are ready to work on a calm chicken.

It is best to have a helper to do this. One person holds the chicken and the other cuts the feathers. Take one wing, spread it out and using scissors, carefully cut the feathers a few inches from the wing itself. Chickens do get mites and this is a good time to dust them with organic insecticide to prevent them. This process has to be repeated every few months, as the feathers do grow back.

I also began scattering feed in the chicken yard while clucking and calling to the chickens instead of just using the auto feeder and waterer. This both encouraged the chickens to scratch and eat natural feed, such as bugs and worms and weeds, but to also eat small grains of sand and dirt which they need to process their food.

Chickens that are only feed chicken feed have to be provided something like oyster shell which not only helps with their digestion but also provides calcium which helps them form hard egg shells. Chickens that naturally forage for food, better meet their nutritional needs without supplements. Being able to call the chickens to me instead of having to chase and herd the chickens back into the chicken yard saves a lot of time and work.

Eventually, at the urging and help of my neighbors, I was able to allow the chickens to free range in the garden and barnyard during the day and call and gently herd them into the chicken yard before dusk… chickens really do go to bed just as the sun is setting and it is best to get them into their area before then.

They will roost (sleep) wherever, but once they are allowed to sleep outside of their nesting area, they will lay eggs elsewhere also.

Finding an egg in the barn in the haystack, possibly weeks after it was laid, is not a good thing. I was careful to not let the chickens out until all eggs were laid for that day, so early afternoon until about an hour before dusk was long enough. Also, eggs need to be gathered each day and not left in the nests for long periods of time as some chickens will peck at the eggs and once a chicken cracks and eats some of it, it is almost impossible to stop this.

Many animals will eat eggs and eggs can draw animals such as fox, raccoon, snakes, opossum, and hawks to your area and potentially put your flock at risk. Chickens in the garden need to be supervised to be sure they are not eating the vegetables and fruits themselves.

I was usually hoeing weeds, loosening and bringing fresh soil up around plants, or picking vegetables while the chickens were enjoying their time in the garden. If I saw a chicken eating something it shouldn’t I would simply correct that behavior and encourage the chicken to move away from that area.

I found the chickens would follow me and “work” where I was working. If I was in the barn cleaning out a stall, the chickens were there, because I was uncovering bugs and worms for them!

I had read that modern chickens did not have a nesting instinct anymore because they had been caged and not allow to raise chicks for generations. By this I mean, they did not lay a number of eggs and sit on them and keep them warm until they hatched into chicks. Grandma called this “being broody”. I did not have a rooster, so the eggs my hens were laying were not fertilized.

I could not add to my flock by this method, so I decided to buy an incubator with an automatic egg turner and buy fertilized eggs from the flea market to incubate. This was a fun experience and was not too labor intensive. If I had not had the automatic egg turner I would have had to manually turn the eggs once or twice a day which was more time consuming than anything.

Keeping the temperature and moisture levels correct was relatively easy; waiting for the 20 some days till the eggs started hatching was the hard part! Once the chicks starting hatching young and old would spend hours watching and listening to a chick peep while still in the eggs and peck a hole in the eggs shell large enough to get out. It was tempting to try and help a chick get out of the shell, but it is better to leave it up to nature in this case.

Don’t expect all of the eggs to successfully hatch. That is not natures way, hard as it is to see an animal perish before it actually lives. Once the viable chicks have hatched, keeping them fed and watered in a cardboard box with a heat lamp (or old fashioned light bulb that gives off heat) until they started sprouting their big chick feathers.

At this time they could be put in a small bottomless cage on the ground during the day for several hours at a time. They need to be back in the box and under the heat at night even in summer.. Some people advocate clipping the beak of young chicks so they will not peck and injure each other. This can be done with fingernail clippers but I never had to do it to my chicks.

I think overcrowding and not handling the chicks could possibly be contributing factors. I handled all the chick by picking them up and cupping them in my hands and never had any aggressive chicks to deal with.

One thing I did not know is that day-old chicks get very tired very easy and will fall asleep and spread out like they are dead. I had a couple fall asleep with their head in the water tray and felt like I saved a few from drowning by picking them up out of the water. They do stop this after a couple of days after hatching, but it pays to keep a close eye on them or remove the water when you cannot watch them the first couple of days after hatching.

The box itself should be large enough so the heat lamp or light you have over the cardboard box will not heat the entire box. The chicks will move toward and away from the heat as they need it so be aware of whether or not your chicks are getting too hot or cold.

Once the chicks are losing their “baby feathers” and growing their larger feathers I introduce them to the other chickens by putting them in a wire box in the chicken yard. Chickens have a pecking order and you don’t want to risk a small chick being injured by a big chicken by just turning them loose to defend themselves.

After a few days of their being in the chicken yard for a few hours protected by their wire box, I release them in the chicken yard with the other chickens. By this time they have long legs and heads nearly as large as adult chickens. I have never had a problem with a chick being caught and injured by a larger chicken.

I did find that after a year of being “free range” chickens that natural instinct kicked in with one of my hens. She was sitting on about four eggs one morning and was a little more bothered than usual when I went to get the eggs.

I had kept one rooster from the chicks I had hatched and wondered if he was doing his job. He was certainly a good alarm clock, crowing and flapping his wings while on the highest spot he could find in the chicken yard every morning. I left those eggs for the “broody” hen and she successfully hatched 8 chicks. I was very happy to see that natural instinct would take over if given the chance.

I failed to mention the wonderful eggs we got from our chickens. I learned to make many things I would not have learned to make without them. Everything from mayonnaise to angel food cake to quiche became things enjoyed by my family as well as by the helpful neighbors. I was able to barter eggs for butter with one neighbor that had a milk cow.

I no longer have the chickens, that farm or the neighbors but still, have the incubator. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about chickens and maybe someday soon I will start another flock. In the meanwhile, I hope my experiences will be helpful to any of you with chickens or thinking about getting started with chickens.

by Sandra Ogden

Getting out of the city and choosing to live “out in the country” is a goal of many people nowadays.  “Homesteading” sounds so idealistic; getting back to the basics and living the dream!  What most don’t realize is homesteading is hard physical work and has a lot of unknowns.

It requires a lot of planning, prioritizing, setup money and manual labor.  You need shelter, water and food and lots of common sense.

When I bought my homestead (see the previous article on buying a country property), it had the basics:  a house, a water well, septic tank, shed and barn; however, except for the brand new septic, everything was old and poorly maintained.  I had to prioritize the repair/replace list and after refurbing the house, the water well was next in line.

I did my research on the internet about water wells, the various types of pumps, hand pumps, stand-alone mechanical pumps, and solar pump options. I spoke with some of my neighbors about their wells, many who have had to recently replace pump motors and pipes.

One neighbor tried to do his own replacement and it turned out to be trial and error because he did not know what type of pump or how far down it was placed so it was a guessing game and he ended up calling a company to come to fix it after 3 days of failure.

Another neighbor started doing it himself, found his pipe was broken and ended up getting a well company to replace the broken pipes and replace the pump.

In both instances, it was 3 to 7 days to fix the problem, plus between $1500 and $2500.  Another family down the road bought a place without an inspection and found the well didn’t work and $3000 and two weeks of repairs later they were pumping water.

The point is you never know when the pump will stop working or what caused it to stop.  It just happens and usually not at a convenient time!  If you don’t have water stored (300-500 gals) for your family and animals to get you through the repair/replacement, you are in deep yogurt!

Your location is everything!  If you live in the deep south (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida etc.) and you are not in the hills, your drill depth may be shallow (less than 80 ft.).  When I lived in Florida we could dig a well ourselves because the water level was so high.

But the further north and more hilly country you are in, the drill depth may be significant.  The type of the soil also impacts the drilling. Rocky soil or compacted clay can cause you some anxiety as it affects the time to drill and the type of drill bits needed to get through the ground.

If your house is on a scenic hill, it may add hundreds of feet to the water level, which adds money to total cost of drilling and installation. These are just some of the things to think about before buying that country property.

Other things you need to know about your existing well are:  when was it drilled, how deep was it drilled and what was the water depth when it was drilled.  If the well was drilled over 25/30 years ago, there may be no county records of it.

You will have to depend on what the owner tells you (if the property is occupied) or try to ask neighbors about their wells if the property is vacant.  Even if your closest neighbor is 10 miles down the road, the soil composition is similar and the water level is probably pretty close to what you would have.

The property I bought had a residence which was 40 years old and the original builder lived in the house.  Since the well was drilled when the house was built there were no county records of the original drilling to give me the information I needed.

The house sits on the second highest elevation in the community but it is really only a small hill.  The owner told me the well was 120 ft. deep but he didn’t remember what the water level was.  The pump had been replaced 10 years prior.  Since the owners were an elderly couple and did not use the well for irrigation or animals, I had a good chance the pump would last for a while.

You just don’t go out and replace a well pump because you’re worried it may break down on you!  Since I had no idea what type or size of pipe was used (40 years ago) or what brand or size of pump was installed (10 years ago), the decision about the water well kept me up at night for weeks.

Even though I have 500 gallons of drinkable water, 600 gallons of household use water, and 1000 gallons of animal water stored around my homestead, I was worried about not having fresh water.  The thought of having to go almost a half-mile downhill to the meadow where the spring is, fill water containers, transfer water uphill to the house and animal areas, filter and purify it for drinking was constantly on my mind.  I made the decision to drill a backup well using an off-grid Simple (Hand) Pump.

The internet advertising leads you to think you can put in a Simple Pump in or next to your existing well piping. Not unless you had it planned prior to drilling your well and got the right width of pipe!  My 40-year-old well was not a consideration for a Simple Pump, which meant I had to get a company to drill a new well in a new location.

A Simple Pump is a hand pump, which can be adapted to a mechanical pump either electric or solar… for an additional large fee.

Getting a well drilling company is not as simple as calling up and making an appointment.  I called all three companies within 100 miles of my property.  One just told me “no, we’re too busy with commercial work,” the other two agreed to come out and give me an estimate and explanation.

One company was willing to drill on appointment at a much higher price, while the other company offered a lower price if they could work me in over the next four months.  “Working me in,” meant between commercial jobs and when another job in the area could be combined with mine so they could bring the heavy equipment to do two jobs, which is more economical for them; which translated to $1000 less cost to me.

I chose the latter, feeling my existing well would continue to function while I waited.

The ESTIMATED cost of drilling depends on lots of things.  First, your location-how far out are you…what are your county road conditions; can large heavy equipment get to you and what are your farm road conditions…dirt, gravel, paved?

Second, what are the topographical issues with your property (mountains, hilly or flat)?  Third, what is the geological makeup of your soil…clay, sand, rock, etc.?  Fourth, what will the depth of drill to hit water be?  The drilling company can pull the records for your area, but some county well records only go back 15 or 20 years.

Needless to say, if you are on top of a mountain or hill, the drill will most likely be deeper and thus more expensive. Drilling a 50 or 80 ft. well is way cheaper than drilling 100-120 ft. or 350-500 ft. or more.  My house is on a small hill thus the drill went to 140 ft.

You need to ask all these questions up front to the drilling company and find out what their basic costs are and what their additional costs may be.  Do they charge additional fees for drilling more difficult geological makeup, more for drilling over 100 ft.,  what other additional charges…a one-time service fee, an extra mileage fee, non-level ground set up fee?

The supervisor will come out earlier with a contract, want a 50% deposit and want to know the approximate spot where you want the well drilled. He/she may do a soil sample or just use his/her experience to gauge the ground.

When the drill trucks arrive there will usually be two or three trucks: a large drill truck, a water truck, a sand truck and/or a supervisor truck; just depends on the company.  Your spot will need to be mostly flat and with enough space so the trucks can stabilize.

These trucks are heavy and the drill truck has extendable booms that go 100’ in the air over the drill site.  Electrical/telephone wires cannot be nearby and tree branches may be a problem also.  I had two sites picked out but one had too many oak tree branches and the boom could not be raised.  The alternate site was mostly clear of branches but the boom still took out the end of a branch.

My drill took about four and a half hours. Once that was done then the piping was inserted and fitted piece by piece, which took another hour and a half.  Lastly, they blew out the pipes and the water began to flow.  The next day the supervisor was back to measure the water level.

In my situation, the drill was to 140 ft. and the water level was at 115 ft. Because I chose a Simple Pump to be installed, it was necessary to know the water level so the correct measurements could be given to the company to custom build the insert pipes for my property. This took about 2 weeks.

The Simple Pump was installed about three weeks later.  The drilling company sent two men out to install it and while the supervisor said it would take “less than an hour” it really took almost three hours.  The Simple Pump pipes fit inside the water pipes.

Once the pipes were connected they installed the hand pump housing to the pipes.  Then the men pumped for about ten minutes to get the sand out of the new line before the water was clear.  Since it was brand new I was told to expect some dirty or colored water for a bit.

I had my son standing by to be the physical labor part and he was able to pump easily after it was primed.  It takes about six or seven pumps to get the prime to kick in before the water pours out if you pump once a day.  It will tire an office worker out in a heartbeat but a good ole country boy won’t have a problem pumping 30 gallons of water.

The cost of the water well drilling, piping, and Simple Pump and installation came to just under $5000. Once on site, it took a day to set up, drill, and pipe and another half a day to install the Simple Pump and clean up the site.  I am considering adding a solar unit to automate the pump but that would be an additional $2000-$3000 to purchase and install it, as that is not one of my talents.

I have laid a concrete pad around the well site and we’re in the process of building a pump house to secure the Simple Pump.  I know if a worst case grid-down scenario were to occur this pump will be a lifesaver.

By: JenMar

Gather together a group of preparedness minded folks and the conversation invariably turns to pulling up stakes and moving to the country to create a self-reliant home and life. But, for many, moving is not an option. Work, family, kids, health, personal responsibilities are all valid reasons keeping people in their present location.

It may not be what we want, but it is where we are right now. We don’t have to postpone our path to self-reliance or preparing for a crisis, though, we can start where we are, with what we have.

Even though a vast country property might be ideal, a large suburban lot can be just as productive. It can be a place to learn and practice, make mistakes; a place to build skills and confidence and learn how to live a life not reliant on a consumeristic society.

When I moved to my property 15 years ago I did so with the idea that I would make it a productive mini farm, with all the pieces of a traditional farm, only smaller. Through the years we have worked and built, reevaluated and rethought what this farm can produce. It’s a creative process that relies on the calculated rotation of livestock and produce for maximum production.

This is what I’d like to share, in hopes of inspiring other city-dwelling pack mates to put their property to maximum use while life’s circumstances keeps them in town.

A Note to Clarify:  This article is primarily about how I survive in suburbia managing my property to produce food for a two-person household. I won’t be talking about alternative energy, heat, water, OPSEC, guns, ammo, or security, although those are all important topics.

Ok, let me give you a visual to set the stage…

I live outside of a mid-sized town (about 30,000 people) in Southern California.  The homes in my area are zoned for all livestock, except horses. The City allows us 33 animal units per home, which is calculated based on a value given to each species. For example, a sheep is 3 units and hogs are 6 units, while chickens and rabbits are ½ a unit each. I can create a mix of animals as long as I don’t go over 33 units.

My property is 1/3-acre, about 85’ wide and 100’ deep. It is all flat and useable. The house fronts to the west, and sits about 30’ from the street, so I have a large front yard with good west and south exposure. Our climate is Mediterranean and the growing season is almost year-round. With small hoop houses, I can grow 365-days, when needed.

The barn is the hub of activity. It is 12’x24’, runs east to west and houses most of our livestock on a rotational basis. To the west is the chicken coop portion (6’x12’) with an outside run that is 8’x12’. The center of the barn is an open space for feed, tack, and supplies.

On the south wall of the center section hangs three rabbit cages, for two does and a buck. The cages have corrugated galvanized roofing that attaches to the front bottom of each cage and extends through the barn wall at an angle. We lovingly refer to this as the “poop chute”.  On the outside of the barn, below the “poop chute” is a collection bin.

The idea is — the droppings roll down into the collection bin, to be used in the garden or compost pile. Litters of meat rabbits are grown out in an 8’ growing cage that is mounted to the wall below the doe and buck cages. When not in use the growing cage is removed and stored in the barn rafters.

The section to the east gets the most activity as we rotate in and out market lambs, pigs, meat chickens, and meat ducks, throughout the year. From the east side, I have the ability to erect an outside corral of different sizes using livestock panels and gates.

There are three 4’x12’ and nine 4’x8’ raised vegetable beds, a squash patch, a 3’x20’ berry patch, dwarf and espaliered fruit trees, trellised grape vines, a dedicated herb garden, and medicinal and perennial herbs interplanted in the flower beds.

The 10’x12’ greenhouse is where plant life begins, whether from seeds, cuttings, divisions or bulbs. Since we have such a long growing season the greenhouse is primarily used to start seeds, store tools, and supplies, rather than growing vegetables during the winter. It’s also my quiet hang out.

The front yard is part of the farm as well. Planter beds have blueberries, herbs, flowers, and one very young pomegranate tree.

So—how do we make all this work? How does this small piece of land produce food for its family?

Carefully, thoughtfully, deliberately, rotationally and with a whole lot of humor and flexibility.

Our life revolves around junior livestock shows, eight months of the year to be exact, so meat production on the farm has to intertwine around that schedule.

Here’s how we do it…

For most of January, the farm is preparing for new livestock and the growing season. The barn is cleaned and outside corrals put up. Feed and feeder lambs are purchased. Fruit trees, berries, and grapes are pruned, fertilized and mulched. Cool weather seeds are direct sown, while many other seeds are started in the greenhouse.

In February, the show season begins, every weekend for the next two months. Succession planting of cool weather crops begins, and more seeds are started in the greenhouse. Outside vegetable beds are tilled and mulched, and bean poles and pea fencing is put in place.

Depending on the rainfall, we are already pulling weeds and mulching garden paths by mid-March. Directly sown seed planting continues, as does seed starting in the greenhouse.

So far, life has been rather routine, lambs get fed, seeds are planted, hens lay eggs, and so on. But, that’s all about to change.

By April, life gets a bit more interesting and busy. That’s when we breed the does and bring in a few turkey chicks, which are brooded in the garage. By the time the chicks feather out and can live in the barn the weather is nice enough that the lambs don’t need (or want) to be in the barn.

The show schedule has also slowed to two weekends a month. Half the lamb space in the barn becomes a growing pen for the turkeys. A week or so before the does kindle we set up the 8’ growing cage on the wall below the does.

The chicken coop is cleaned and all bedding is moved to either the garden or the compost pile (also read – can I keep chickens in my backyard). Nesting boxes are refilled with shavings from the turkey brooding pen. By month end the entire garden has been planted with the first wave of crops.

In May the garden is really taking off and we are seeing the fruits of our labors. Harvesting spring crops is regular now. Winter squash and pumpkins started in the greenhouse are planted in the squash patch.

The doe’s, bred in April, kindle. The turkeys are growing fast and the lambs get a reprieve from the hectic show schedule. Life takes on a rhythm of planting, harvesting, mulching, watering, and weeding until June when the first berries and early summer fruits are ready to pick. The kits are moved to the growing cage.

July is a big month because of the State Fair. All the lambs attend the fair, but only two return home to be shown at the county fair. The others are sold. July’s heat means we must be diligent with watering, weeding, and mulching. The first tomatoes come in July, along with mid-season berries and the last of early summer fruits. Harvesting and replanting is weekly now. Food preservation begins in earnest this month.

Everything we’ve done so far all culminates in August. The garden is bursting, animals are growing, food preservation is non-stop, and just to make things a bit more interesting we throw in the county fair—a week away from home, in the hottest month so far.

The rabbits, turkeys, and the back-up market lamb, not being shown at the fair, are all processed for the freezer before we leave. At the end of the wee,k we come home with an empty trailer. All fair animals have been sold at auction.

By the end of the month, the barn is empty, except for the laying hens and breeding rabbits. We get to take a deep breath, for a little while, at least. The week after school starts 25 meat chicks arrive.

The hot weather in September means I can brood chicks in the garage without using the heat lamp much, saving on my electric bill. When they are ready they’ll take over the entire sheep pen in the barn. If the weather cools enough, the does will be bred again so the litter can be butchered over Christmas break. Some of the garden is slowing down, while some of it seems to be rejuvenated.

Summer squashes are bountiful, in stark contrast to the dying bean, pea and cucumber vines. We continue planting root crops, but the weather is too hot for lettuce greens. Late summer fruits and berries are picked and canned or frozen.

The chicken coop bedding is cleaned out and composted or used as mulch in the garden. The bedding from the sheep trailer becomes bedding for the nesting boxes.

October is a month of contradictions. While we harvest vegetables, potatoes, squash, pumpkins, late berries and a variety of fall fruits, much of the garden is finishing its growing season. We may get a few more plantings of short term crops like beets, radishes and carrots, but we’ll have to wait for the weather to cool before planting cool weather vegetables.

A winter hog arrives early in the month and will be raised in the outside sheep corral through the temperate fall months. By the time the weather gets colder the meat birds will be gone and the hog can have an indoor and outdoor space.

We don’t get freezing weather so raising hogs in the fall is much better than the heat of the summer when the barn is full of other animals. Kits are moved to the growing cage.

Much of the garden comes to an end in November and is replaced with cool weather vegetables and leafy greens. The meat chickens are processed around Thanksgiving. Some of the smaller ones are kept whole, but the rest will be cut in half, giving me chicken each week for about 50-weeks. The hog gets the whole west end of the barn, now. The meat rabbits are growing fast.

In December, we plant a variety of peas for an early spring harvest. Spinach and some hearty lettuces can also handle the cooler temperatures. Over the Christmas break, we butcher the meat rabbits.

The hog will be dropped at the butcher in January as we head north to buy another group of feeder lambs. The only animals left are the laying hens and the breeding rabbits. We get a break for a few weeks, before the whole cycle starts again.

In the course of a year my 1/3-acre suburban lot has produced 4-6 market lambs (1 for the freezer), 3 turkeys, over 30 meat rabbits, 25 meat chickens, one hog, hundreds of eggs and countless pounds of fruits and vegetables; proof that it doesn’t take a large farm to grow and raise your own food.

By Kate in GA

While this technique will work with all perennial plants, my focus for this article is really on the perennials in the garden.  I will specifically talk about fruit trees. However, this will work on all perennial plants that may be giving you problems.

Let me start by saying that I have never seen this technique mentioned in any book or anywhere on the web.  If you ask a master gardener in your county, they will probably say they never heard of it – and may even add that too much fertilizer can be harmful.

However, I can honestly say this technique does work, and with more success than I ever imagined.  This technique has come from my own personal experience and has managed to let my apple trees live less than 20 feet from my (and my neighbor’s) evergreen trees.  All trees are playing well together and are happy.

Let’s start with a comparison in the human vitamin world.  The government gives us minimum daily values for nearly all vitamins.  However, manufacturing companies sell vitamins in much higher doses then the minimum recommends by the government because taking the higher amount makes people feel better.  Vitamin E comes to mind for me.  I take 400 mg every day because it helps me with pain but the government states the daily value needed is only 15 – 30 mg. (Not sure these numbers are correct, I looked up the daily value stat up on the web and found many different values.  I combined them all in the range I displayed here.)

The same holds true for your plants.  I first learned of this fact when we moved to our house 16 years ago.  After the first year, I noticed that my grass always had fungus problems, but my neighbors didn’t.  (Mostly I had dollar spot and fairy rings.)  I just wanted my yard to look like my neighbors (also required by my HOA or I would have been fined).  I put down all kinds of fungicide that I purchased in the home improvement centers.

They worked for a short time, but the problem always came back.  So I had my soil tested.  I found out that I had no phosphorus and very little potash (potassium) in my soil.  I did know that my neighborhood used to be a farm.

I believe that my plot probably had the chicken house on it.  Keeping chickens in one spot for many years will drain the phosphorus from the soil.  I went to the local feed and seed store and purchased two fertilizers: one 50lb. bag of 0-45-0 and one 50lb. bag of 0-0-60.  I spread both (in both the front and back yard) and two weeks later, my lot looked like the rest of the neighborhood!  And it stayed that way for 2 years.

My neighborhood has changed quite a bit in the years I have lived here. We have quite a few Leyland Cyprus trees on our property, as well as Arborvitae Emerald Green trees. My neighbors have them as well. Both of these trees carry the Cedar Apple Rust fungus as well as many others.

I got the evergreen trees long before I got the apple trees.  Knowing that I might have problems with fungus on the apple trees, we planted three trees anyway. I thought that with a spray management program, I could make it work.

My apple trees are now in their 5th year at our house.  We bought two-year-old trees, so I am guessing at the end of this summer, they will be 7 years old.  It has not always been an easy co-existence for my apple trees & evergreens.  The apple trees told me the second year they were here that they didn’t like living at my house and showed me that by picking up both Cedar Apple Rust and Fire Blight.

I thought, no problem, I will spray!  Well, spraying didn’t work!  It worked when sprayed right after a rainstorm, but the dew is so heavy here in the summer, that each morning I got up I had more fire blight!  That year, I cut off so many dead branches I thought I was going to lose the trees.

We managed to scrape by that year, but I didn’t know if we should pull the trees and forget about growing apples or not. We decided to keep the trees and I thought I would try again in year number 3.  I followed the spray recommendations from the University of Georgia and thought that would make the difference.  Nope, it didn’t!  After a lot of rain in April and May, I thought my trees would die.

While out and about one day in mid- May, I pulled into my driveway and noticed that I had dollar spot on my lawn.  I looked at my neighbor’s yards and they did not have dollar spot.  I thought, “Has it been 2 years since I put down phosphorus?”  I called up my feed and seed store to order more.  Then I thought,  if this works for grass, would it work for my apple trees as well?  I ordered 100lbs. of 0-45-0 and 0-0-60 that year.

I put 50lbs. out for the grass, (spread in both the front and back yard) and then put the other 50lbs. of each concentrating on the 1/6 acre where my trees were located (the trees are in my backyard and also got some of the initial 50lbs. that I put down for the grass.)  I added it a bit heavy to the drip line but spread the rest evenly over the 1/6 acre.

I watered it in immediately.  I had to use a drip line because the sprinkler would have caused more fire blight on the trees.  1 week later, the episodes of fire blight and new evidence of cedar apple rust stopped!

This has now been made part of the routine care of my apple trees!  I add one 50lb. bag of 0-45-0 and one 50lb. bag of 0-0-60 to the 1/6 acre where my trees are located each year.  And, as I mentioned earlier, they are now almost 7 years old and much happier trees.

I still used an integrated spray management program, but my emphasis concentrates on the early sprays needed in the spring.  I only spray for fungus now about every 4 – 6 weeks during the summer months and apply the spray with a focus on the new growth.

It is a bit of a challenge to know when to spray because the fungicide can damage the trees if it is over 90 degrees when you spray.  (That is all summer long for me!)  So I try to time it with a rainstorm so the temps are lower.  This is something I am willing to accept for the blessing of having my own apples.

I should also state that the phosphorus and potash fertilizers will not stop all incidences of fungus problems with the trees. However, it so greatly reduces the number of times fungus appears as well as greatly reducing the severity of the problem that I now find it completely manageable.

I have only had to cut off a few small branches from fire blight on my apple trees this year.  And, it has been over 3 years since I have even seen evidence of cedar apple rust. (I do understand that Cedar Apple Rust is a bi-annual problem, not an annual problem.)

Also, just so you know, I store this fertilizer so I always have 2 years’ worth on hand. When the world ends, I will still be able to manage my fungus problems with the apple trees for a while.

Now, if I can just get the squirrels to stop sampling the apples to see if they are ripe yet!  I see covering those trees in netting in my future next year!