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Post by chrysanthemum on Apr 18, 2022 20:57:15 GMT -6
Bon, you must have been writing your much more informed post about za’atar while I was typing mine, and I didn’t see that you had posted until after I posted mine.
I think another thing that appeals to me about the idea of Sumac is that I so miss fall color down here. We see a little bit with some Crape Myrtles, but I miss the showy reds of maples and dogwoods from back east. Sumac does have beautiful fall color going for it.
Thanks for the offer of sending some rhizomes to Texas. I appreciate it. Maybe hold off this spring, though, and establish it on your own place first. Our water situation is getting pretty bad. Our rain tanks are almost empty, and if they don’t fill up soon, we’ll be doing what we can to keep the garden going, but I don’t think we should be trying to establish any new plantings at this point. If you get it going at your place, it sounds like you’ll have rhizomes to share in future years when we might be in a better position to plant. Thanks so much for thinking of me, though.
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Post by macmex on Apr 19, 2022 8:03:05 GMT -6
I believe sumac seed was also used to flavor pemmican. I grew up using the dried seed heads as smoker fuel when I worked bees. I also once read that someone had figured out how to heat a house using chipped sumac and a pellet stove. They said they could produce enough to heat all winter, repeatedly, on 2 1/2 acres of land.
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Post by hmoosek on May 1, 2022 9:53:11 GMT -6
So far all I have is beans and maters. Still waiting for my bro to come plow. He said maybe next week.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 1, 2022 18:58:56 GMT -6
Hmoosek, I wish we lived closer, I'd come over to plow for you. I know how it is to be without a way to plow. When we first moved here back in 2004, a neighbor drove his 1955 Ford tractor all the way from Moody Hill to plow my garden because I didn't have a tractor here yet. At the time, I didn't know where he lived; another neighbor had sent him my way.
I later found out he lived almost two miles from my house. That was a very impressive show of support from a person I had never met before the day he showed up on his old tractor. People around here just do things like that without being asked. I always try to pay back the favors people do for me. We live in an awesome location here. We trade labor between farms on a regular basis. Right now, I'm getting help rebuilding my old Jeep, from a guy whose house and barn I wired a few years back. I didn't charge him anything for the several days' labor, I just told him I'd need a favor someday. That's just the way things work around here.
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Post by hmoosek on May 5, 2022 9:49:33 GMT -6
heavyhitterokra Thanks Buddy. Good neighbors are a blessing! It’s been a tough start. I miss my ol farmall something fierce. It’s seems every time he gets a spare minute it comes a rain. This morning I was sitting here and heard a big clap of thunder and was reminded of my Grandma. When I was very young, she and I were home alone and we had a bit of a Thunderstorm. There was a loud clap of long thunder and she said to me, “Oh my, The Tader wagon just fell over.” At the time, I was quite stumped as I had no idea we had a tader wagon. It took me a few years to solve that puzzle. It’s amazing what memories we hang on to, but that one has always made me smile when I hear thunder. We are getting a good rain this morning. I can’t complain as we need it! I’ll just adjust my plans on what I’m planting this year. I still have time for all the hot weather crops. I might do a field of popcorn this year for kicks.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 5, 2022 10:43:51 GMT -6
Hmoosek,
That was a good story. I'd never heard that reference to thunder before. Thanks, for reminding me that I need to buy some popcorn for seeds and some raw peanuts for seeds. I was thinking last Autumn that it would be really nice if I had popcorn and peanuts for the grandkids to pick, but in the Spring, it's hard to remember what your Autumn plans were.
I went to the garden this morning to check, after the heavy rains. I could peer out there and barely see that my tomatoes were still standing, but I couldn't get any closer than about 100 feet from it because I have a small creek running full blast between my garden and my chicken house right now. Thank goodness I have plasticulture and raised beds or else my maters would be under water this morning.
We've had 18" inches of rain here year to date, which wouldn't be too bad, but 6" inches of that has come over the past 7 days.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2022 6:11:10 GMT -6
I'd heavily mulch the plants you have as the roots might make it through the winter and produce more flowers and seed, come spring. Sounds like a good one to try and produce seed from. They are putting on pods now. I'll be able to save seed.
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Post by chrysanthemum on May 18, 2022 5:37:54 GMT -6
That’s great news, Bon. Congratulations.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2022 8:40:40 GMT -6
Outstanding scything weather! I'm still figuring out how to cut bermuda. Tough to cut! Wet, dry, with the burring on, with the burring off. The only consistent thing I note is the requirement to sharpen the blade after about 5 swings (ten if you're sloppy). Even then, it's inconsistent. Next up: Wait until it's a foot or more in height. Maybe that'll do it.
Johnson Grass may be invasive, but it sure is good biomass.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 22, 2022 12:38:40 GMT -6
I feel for ya, Bon. There's no good answer for Bermudagrass, that stuff is like trying to cut hay twine. It will eventually die out though, if you pull enough of it by the root. When it's wet like this it's prime time to uproot things like that. I usually spend the last week of May, crawling on my hands and knees for days on end, pulling weeds and wild blackberry vines. On a warm day, when it's raining, you can usually find me out there making a day of it, just pulling weeds because they come up so easily when it's muddy in the garden. Me with my little red wagon in tow, just piling weeds up as high as I can get them.
Wet weeds compost really well too, but only if you throw them in a barrel or pile them on a tarp, so they can't get in contact with the soil. When it's muddy out, they just regrow wherever they land.
Too bad I used up all of my dried cow manure on biochar this winter. Mixing some of that with wet weeds would really build a hot compost pile when those 90-degree days return.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2022 9:52:08 GMT -6
Yeah. I hear ya Ron. They don't call it Devil grass for nuttin. I've actually gotten pretty good at getting rid of it. In this case, I'm working to make hay. The plot is filled with Johnson grass and it's curious to scythe down the Johnson grass to find the Bermuda hardly touched. Looks nice, though. I have a tremendous amount of biomass for the compost and garden beds as mulch, but it's all rainy now. I was able to finish my area of Johnson grass this morning but unable to lift the material to the garden before the lightening and thunder started.
later, the skies looked to be clearing but as soon as we were outside all gloved up, it started sprinkling and thunder returned. Instead, we fondled the tiny bunnies in the hutch. I have a doe that has reduced the size of her kits. I mean, they are iddy biddy. Seems odd to see seven teeny weeny rabbits hopping around int he cage and they are irresistible. we topped off the water bottles, fed them some slippery elm and giggled with the tiny babies. I have 24 rabbits all told, rabbitry bursting at the seems. I guess I can reduce that load under this rainy weather. After we were done with the cuteness, we wandered over to the day lilies and picked a few for the indoor vase. They'll brighten our day tomorrow when it is seriously rainy.
After that, we picked inch worms off the brassicae to feed to the little raptors cooped up inside. It is so much fun to watch them go crazy over worms. We really love our little ladies. They've changed our lives and make everything so much more fun. And they are super sweet. They are in their fifth week. We can stroke their crops, grab their beaks, etc. I hear that these are crazy teenagers but when they start laying they really mellow out. I cannot imagine how tender they will be when they reach laying maturity.
Bill purchased materials for their chicken tractor and enough for 4 more to sell. He's looking into building this really cool goat milking station he wants to sell. It's a design from an experienced friend up in Utah that builds the stations and also wooden chicken coops on a regular basis.
I actually have too many birds, so I'm looking to sell the extras. If that works, I'll buy some more -maybe a popular novelty variety- and raise them and sell those, too.
And I can sell them. According to Morgan Vance from the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, "Private treaty sales are not banned, people can continue to sell individually," said Vance. "However we have put a ban on public sales."
It is so nice to have my husband home with us.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 23, 2022 12:41:38 GMT -6
Bon, that sounds great!
I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the chicks; they just make a place seem homier to me. I've always kept a few hens around, just for that reason.
Have you seen the price of those little hen houses they have for sale at places like Lowes or Atwoods!?
$900.00 for a little two hen, chipboard, henhouse! Makes a guy wanna build a few of them out of real lumber, just for the express purpose of underpricing them.
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2022 8:02:51 GMT -6
Those coops are ridiculous! Bill's waiting for clear weather to build their tractor.
In the meantime, it's cold and rainy. I now have ten small cheekens cooped up in the house. They are extremely clean and quite spoiled.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 27, 2022 9:36:18 GMT -6
It wouldn't take many pallets to build one of those little henhouses like the ones I saw for sale at Atwoods, but those were only large enough for about two or three chickens. That little white shed you guys have would be the perfect size for ten hens. I've got 5 hens here and I get from two to four eggs per day, just about right for what we use here at the house and it gives me surplus too, so I can give away a dozen eggs once every week or so. (That's my favorite part).
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2022 10:07:02 GMT -6
Im still going to patch that together with a short run for emergencies or such. But city code requires minimum 950 sq ft for living space. I cannot afford that big of a run or the city permit fees for a permanent structure. A static run that big might also destroy the ecology as it would be too large for my back yard. City is a bird sanctuary, it is Rat snake city because of the watershed and we have all other predators. Really difficult sitch. Mobile with portable netting will give them the entire yard while keeping them in and safe. Others say a mobile coop helps deter predators finding a way in. The tractors will have deployable wire around its perimeter to prevent digging and Half inch wire around to slow down snakes.
I can move them strategically to rejuvenate certain areas while minimizing damage. I look forward to fashioning the portable run to the side of the house for bug control, e.g.
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