[Squashmania]

The Small-Scale Poultry Flock by Harvey Ussery, foreword by Joel Salatin ©2011

This is a delightful read with cautionary tales, uplifting encouragement and wit and wisdom spawned from decades of being a “flockster”. Must read if you have feather heads, or want to get some. Inspirational and pleasant. I would vote for it twice,if I could🙂

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by  Squashmania.

[Squashmania]

Camp stores will carry biodegradable soap products for backpackers as well, but there are plenty of other good ideas on here before mine.

[Squashmania]

You could probably freeze dry the arils, or put them through a food mill for seedless pulp and add it to second ferment of kombucha or a fruit chutney over broiled chicken or whitefish. A little red onion, cilantro and some pine nuts. I’m making myself hungry.

[Squashmania]

I played clarinet from 5th grade to college, all 5 types. I dabble at piano, guitar. I can make a great deal of awful noise on low brass instruments that is just hysterically fun. I currently own a bamboo flute that can make me hyperventilate and almost pass out, several ocarinas (my life is threatened when I play them)

[Squashmania]

There is no quail ecstasy like a sand bath. They love laying eggs in the sand as well.

I had a hutch that was half wire and half sand. (Slightly Rednecked /Chris Karnes from YT has great build tutorials)

I love your ground pen!! I get snow, so it would be good for me about 8 months out of the year, but it looks sturdy and easy to move. I am all about “rotational grazing”, and while quail aren’t cows (but the comparison makes me laugh every time) my yard seems to rebound from the egg layers and “meatballs” (CC chickens) just fine. Why not tractor some quail? I like them to live their best life too. My chicken friend and I were talking about the wire skirting that can be hinged up to move and layed down and weighted with rocks or bricks, to prevent the mentioned raccoon atrocities. This sounded like a good solution.

I had them in an A frame ground pen at one point, but. I was pretty new at it, and the nightly raccoons would sneak an arm under a side and every day it seemed, Ii had a bird or two missing.

[Squashmania]

Yes! I am in love with Henry Bowman! I actually wrote a very sappy swooning letter to John, several years back, when he was still with us, and got a short but gracious reply. I could have framed it 😍🥰

An excellent dystopian future prepped book that has a bunch of prepping ideas is Molon Labe

(from the Greek response of king Leonidas to the Spartans. The Spartans were attacking the Greeks, and offered them to lay down their weapons and worship the Spartan leader, and no further death would come to them. King Leonidas’ response was Molon Labe…..come and take them)

[Squashmania]

Knowing a luthier is such an amazingly great thing. They are universally cool laid back people that can totally change an instrument for the better.

[Squashmania]

What’s the name of your podcast? I LOVE Irish music. Waking Ned Devine is one of my fav films.

[Squashmania]

So, I did a little looking and apparently there ARE NPK tests. The prices vary widely, so I grabbed a couple screen shots. The first is Gardener’s Edge.

[Squashmania]

That is a really interesting question. I may bring it up to the group at large tomorrow evening with the Life Done Free Livestream. If we make our own fertilizer, can we test to see what the ratios are in it? Especially animal manures. Rabbit and alpaca are cold and can be put on a garden without being composted, but others need some time to themselves.

[Squashmania]

This reminds me of the Jadam Korean natural farming. They use a combination of boiled potato and leaf mould. I have tried making it, and it’s hard to tell “peak bubbles”, but once you miss this window a few times, you start getting the hang of it. 🙂

[Squashmania]

That sounds amazing and so nutritious! I bet your garden loves you with many vegetables!

[Squashmania]

Soil tests will tell you the makeup of your soil. Nutrient adequacy versus deficiency values are part of the report.

[Squashmania]

Would the soaked wood chips mimic charged biochar?

[Squashmania]

The Hoolar homestead, Ben and Meg Hollar are in Rutherfordton, as well. They run pigs and a family milk cow.