Category: Self reliance

horse manure control test

My two main nutrition inputs are leaf bags from my neighbors, which I pick up in the fall, and horse manure (well rotted/decomposed) from the stables.  I have read articles about manure loaded with chemicals which wreaked havoc in growers' plots.  I have not experienced this problem but, to put this concern behind me, I ran a simple test. I took two empty 32oz yogurt containers, drilled holes in the bottoms for drainage, and filled one 50% with recently collected manure and the other with compost.  Read more [...]

home beer brew

When I lived in London in the late 70's through the mid 80's it was common to make your own beer.  Boots, the large pharmacy retailer, sold a beer brewing kit for less than 10 pounds  ($16 at today's rates) which contained all you needed to make your own beer.  Drinking beer at the pubs was popular and even when you visited friends for a meal, you would before or after the meal, head to the local pub.  However, and I began to dread the moment, your friend would occasionally insist you drink his Read more [...]

responsibility to animals

I had a good time at the Georgia Organics annual conference - its 15th and my 7th.  The Friday workshops and farm visit and the Saturday educational sessions were excellent and the two keynote speakers have national repute and lived up to expectations.  At my breakfast table on Friday morning was an organic livestock farmer.  I asked him a question which was triggered by the assistance I am providing to two ailing chickens:  "What do you do when one of your animals get sick?"  His answer was Read more [...]

cold frame building (2)

In a previous post I mentioned  building my first cold frame using bargain priced windows from the local thrift, cement blocks and lumber.  The seedlings in this cold frame are growing well and when it is cold (say 18 F outside temperature) the temperature in the cold frame is approximately 10 F higher.  During the day the differential increases.  And it keeps out the frost.  So I am hoping to grow decent sized vegetables. One cold frame was not enough because I had 10 windows remaining and Read more [...]

cold frame building

On a recent visit to the thrift store, where there are often solid wood furniture and country painting bargains, I noticed about 50 double insulated small windows each 2 ft wide and  31" high.  Available for $1 each.  I bought 22.  And have spent a lot of time figuring how to use them effectively in a cold frame. My greens are growing very well under an Agripon row cover - it allows air and rain through, protects against frost, keeps the temperature higher inside than out and allows some Read more [...]

new growing area and contour ditch

In a previous post I mentioned the repercussions experienced from locating my muscadine grape plantings too close to my vegetable beds.  Just as the vines of the muscadine grow interminably so do their roots and the raised beds, tomato planting sites and other vegetable sites were mined by muscadine roots.  I relocated half (6) of the muscadines earlier in November and have now prepared a site for relocating the remainder. The site is on the slope of a small hill which has blueberries at Read more [...]

preparing for winter

Yesterday morning I did not need a weather forecast to know cold was incoming and that it was time to protect some of the plantings.  Of the 12 fruit trees installed earlier this year, the Gold Nugget loquat was the most vulnerable.  The loquat is suited for sub-tropical to mild temperate zones and freezing temperatures will kill the buds if not the tree.  My loquat did not do very well this summer, probably too hot for it, but I will do what I can to help it and first steps was to winterwrap Read more [...]

transplanting muscadine and fixing a mistake

Muscadine grapes (vitis rotundifolia) grow in the wild throughout the Southeastern United States. There are well known varieties and my favorite is the Scuppernong. When I established my vegetable garden 3 years ago I had a small growing area and, in my wisdom, ignored the instructions to "set the plants 20 feet apart in 10 foot rows". Instead, I set up 3 horizontal wires, 5 ft high, 1 ft apart, and ran this down the middle of my vegetable garden. I figured the horizontal wires would give the Read more [...]

new chicken coop – completed

I completed the chicken coop project over the past weekend. I did all the work myself except for the assistance of a friend who helped me hoist 5 of the 6 windows into place and fit the entrance door. In previous posts I mentioned my progress on its construction. It is built on sloping ground so I started by using my bobcat to build a level pad, half of which was cut into the slope and the other half was infill from soil removed from the slope. Then with my trencher/stump remover attached to the Read more [...]

progress on the coop and a simple replacement fix

Chicken coop The future chicken coop is progressing. I installed the windows and door with the help of a friend. Just outside of Atlanta there is a large employee owned window manufacturer and they custom manufacture windows which are occasionally returned because of wrong specs, finish, customer couldn't pay etc. Nothing actually wrong with the windows. These returned windows are stored separately and are advertised on Craig's list. I bought 6 of these windows (dimensions 4 ft by 4 ft) for Read more [...]