Homesteading

[joncutt87]

I have most of my seeds started in the house already.

 

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[DeepseekerADS]

I put my live plants in pots by a window in the basement, with a good full spectrum light bulb above them. You don't really need grow lights per my research. They're expensive and failure prone - read plenty reviews on them. Full spectrum bulbs are cheaper, last a lot longer, and do just about the same thing for plant growth. My strawberries, hops, and goji berries are doing great. The rest are doing okay as well.

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

Going to be while in this part of the good old USA until I can put my new plants in the ground. They are looking good in my little green house. Just small patches of snow left but still got frost in the ground and where the top is thawed out it is muddy.

 

[joncutt87]

I use a florescent light with a white bulb and a red bulb

 

[DeepseekerADS]

It's hot outside, though the temperature isn't high. It is darned difficult to put a chicken wire fence up by yourself, danged! Especially when the area isn't level.

It ain't pretty! Kinks up, bows, call them half bubbles. I'm just using plenty bare wire to pull as tight as I can get in areas. Home & Garden won't be here taking pictures, at least I hope not. It is going to be one fuggly fence.

I know I'm going to have a deer & critter problem. I'm going to surround the fence with wood ash right at the base of the posts. Then I'm going to surround that with that barrel of cat litter I'm been piling up.

While at Lowe's picking up the wood chipper this morning I picked up a jug of "Liquid Fence 32 oz Liquid Concentrate Fence Deer & Rabbit Repellent". It got 4 1/2 stars on the reviews, and it claims it does no harm to nature. I did read that it stinks to high heaven. Expensive but trying my best with what I have. I feel like I'm running late.

I believe, if I ever get this fence up, I'm going to need to stake the fence bottoms down.

Well, back to it!

 

[joncutt87]

If that don't work, try calling the local zoo and getting some tiger poo.... or a new 12 gauge. Which chipper did you get?

 

[DeepseekerADS]

If that don't work, try calling the local zoo and getting some tiger poo.... or a new 12 gauge. Which chipper did you get?

I actually did a google search of tiger poop, why not! Nothing on page 1, didn't go further.

I picked up a Stanley 270cc Steel Gas Wood Chipper Model #: CH7. It's only Stanley in name = made in China

I've known since before I retired that I needed one. Many Craigslist searches, looked at many. Around here they sell kinda high, so went with a new one rather than an unknown gamble. Now I can turn all these brush piles into mulch, versus burning them.

 

[joncutt87]

Here's an article:Tiger Poo Apparently Effective at Warding Off Pests : TreeHugger
Try searching for 'zoo doo' programs

 

[joncutt87]

I finally got my chipper running yesterday. His loss my gain. To hear his wife tell the story, they bought a new house and he was going to LOVE warning in the yard. There were some limbs on the ground and the grass was looking a bit thin. He went to lowes and bought a tractor, core aerator, dethatcher, and a shiny new troybilt cs4265. He used the chipper, dethatcher, and aerator once; and the mower 5 times. Then he hired a landscaper. Everything sat for three years before she finally got tired of looking at it this week.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Then he hired a landscaper. Everything sat for three years before she finally got tired of looking at it this week.His loss my gain. To hear his wife

Wow! Congrats my friend, there is gold in Craigslist from time to time. I've made more than a few pickings there. And, I'll continue my search there. Being on the government dole now, my purchases tend to be once a month....

 

[joncutt87]

Deep, how far from fieldale are you?

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Deep, how far from fieldale are you?

It's 15 or 20 minutes depending on how many sluggards are slowing down traffic = not many passing zones.

Normally I go to Sunday School, but this morning feeling the pressure for the fencing, I now have one 150 ft roll of chicken wire up. I'm over half way through. I'm going to finish that today - just stopped for something in my belly besides hunger. The last run - around 100 more feet, will take the rest of daylight or body fitness to finish. Tomorrow I'll go through and wire it up to strengthen it.

And, I have the chipper put together. One thing that gripes me about it as it does not specify the type of gas to use. On the chainsaws and lawn mowers I use real gas - non-ethanol. I am just going to use that same gas with it.

 

[joncutt87]

You should be able to use regular pump gas, as long as you run it dry at the end of the season.

 

[rockhound]

If you use ethanol added gas it will deteriorate the seals in the carburetor after a while. You will need to replace the carb after 5 years or more of use, also the carbs are plastic and cannot stand up to gasoline, so likely you will have to replace the entire carb when it quits working. I use 100% real gasoline. Good Luck. rockhound

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Got the fence strung. I'll go back tomorrow and wire each post tight. That's time consuming, so I'd say I have a full day of work wiring it. It'll be interesting tonight as the deer herd passes through.... Will the fence still love me tomorrow?

One thing is for sure, it is fuggly. But, it is a fence, and about as straight as one man working alone pulling the roll along and fitting each post. I'd say there's 250 ft of fence there now, over hill, over dale. Maybe I'll hit Walmart tomorrow for tent pegs.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

If you use ethanol added gas it will deteriorate the seals in the carburetor after a while. You will need to replace the carb after 5 years or more of use, also the carbs are plastic and cannot stand up to gasoline, so likely you will have to replace the entire carb when it quits working. I use 100% real gasoline. Good Luck. rockhound

That's what I thought! Thanks for the confirmation!

 

[joncutt87]

I use straight gas with a hint of seafoam.
My hens were feeling very ambitious today

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

This morning in Michigan the weather decided we needed some more cold temp, not spring yet. At 6am the temp was 14 degrees. At daylight the hawks were looking for their breakfast.

 

[releventchair]

Cold indeed. But we missed the snow the south western part of state and Indiana saw last night/yesterday.
The gray squirrel is out. Have not seen it's littermate from last spring in about a week. Course being in bed a couple days not conductive to sightings..
The black may be about to have young, or the pair of hawks out back again this spring scored.
Shop Stanley 270cc Steel Gas Wood Chipper at Lowes.com
Chipper being a fourstroke is nice. Less hassle with fuel system. Does not seem picky about gas type,octane ect. Just oil type for crankcase depending on temp outdoors.
Don't sweat the fence appearance Deepseeker. You could try posts up first then hang fence with a pipe or bar on end of roll for a stretcher.
With plenty of work waiting in the wings , while not trying to build half ,ahhh good, I tend to say good enough for who it's for.
Look once for beauty...twice to be critical.
A deer might thump it in the night if moving fast through an area it goes through often. They figure it out though.

Cheap stake.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Just couldn't get the house warm this morning with the kerosene back-up, so I started a fire in the stove. Sharpened the chain on my Poulan and cut enough firewood for the 20's temps on Friday and Saturday. I won't be planting anything this week, gives me time for tweaks on the fencing. I wired the fencing to all the posts and ran a couple of wires from post to post. I'll finish that today. I also tied white ribbons to the wire to make it more visible to the deer. I was checking on using tent pegs for the fence bottoms, but have decided to use the home made pegs like our relevant friend suggested. Them tent pegs are expensive for the number of them I need on the fence. I used about 250 ft of fencing building it, so it does give me plenty space (around 1250 square feet) for a first year's bounty - if I'm that lucky. I will put the work in! Meanwhile, the live plants I put in pots and placed by a window and using a full spectrum bulb are doing fine. Out of 25 strawberry plants, only one is still in hiding, so I figure that's darned good. The hops plant and 2 goji plants are thriving. I'm starting to see bulbs popping out on the blackberry plants. I'm still concerned about the blueberries, but just this morning I'm imagining I see some activity. The raspberries look alive but aren't really active yet.