Thursday, April 11, 2013

Bathtub Hoarders

The seedlings spent their first night in the greenhouse (in pots on the ground) and all are good this morning! I think we'll leave them in pots until the danger of frost has passed, and then transplant them. It's actually warmer in the greenhouse though, even overnight, than it is in the front room where the seedlings were.

Starting some more seeds to use in the aquaponics system.


Yesterday we went to do some errands in the morning and stopped by a hatchery to take a look. Nathan asked if they had any extra tanks that they wanted to sell/give away and luckily they had a huge tank sitting in the back that they'll give us! It's about 6' x 6', so bigger than necessary, but it has a drain and it will be good to have. Later on we pulled over to look at a truck for sale and happened to find a free bathtub right there. We are either hoarders or the lucky new owners of an aquaponics set up...

Mop top. 
Her name is Meghan...and she's apparently getting a bull 'friend' in the next few days.

No trespassing or you'll get whacked. 


We spent an hour yesterday mulching the orchard. There are apples, plums, pears and blueberries.




We also continued to tackle the side yard. This is the mess that we started with. Maybe there were goats kept in here at one time? 




We tore down the entire lean-to and then carried the hutch/coop (from next to the house) into the yard. Carrying it was difficult but manageable until we got to the gate (you can see one of the posts in the photo above). Nathan instructed me to simply do a deep squat, grab the edge of the hutch/coop, then lift with a shoulder press and "we'll get it over the gate, no problem". 

Ha.ha....we had to get Jim (the horse and cow owner) to help us.

 The original location of the hutch/coop. We took this little yard apart. Apparently it used to house a neglected chicken.

A tiny (1") egg that Nathan found while weed whacking. Wonder what kind of bird it belongs to?


One of the chicks sounds congested today. Maybe it's just starting to make 'adult' sounds instead of peeping? I hope that's it, but I think it's too early for that. Some online advice is apple cider vinegar in the water, or a course of antibiotics. I'd like to avoid jumping straight to antibiotics, so I'll clean the brooder first to make sure it's nice and dry in there.

1 comment:

  1. Love the site. Can't wait till tomorrow.

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