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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 21, 2013 2:12:27 GMT -5
I did an inventory of my seeds today, all done. Now to make a need list and to get my trade list posted everywhere. Huh? A seed inventory finished in a single day? I just did a rough count by looking into the barn, spare bedroom, kitchen, garage, truck, other bedroom, and seed room. There is about 300 pounds of seed; About 40 species of vegetables; About 40 species of herbs; About 60 species of flowers; About 10 species of cactus; About 10 species of trees, (must get more tree seeds); About 7 species of mushroom. Only the vegetables can be further subdivided into cultivars. There are about 40 cultivars each of beans, corn, and squash, as could be expected from my family's staple crops. Many of the vegetable species might be represented by a single cultivar. 1- I admit that I am powerless over seeds... |
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Post by 12540dumont on Nov 23, 2013 13:37:36 GMT -5
 Okay who put the turkey in the Seed Freezer? I mean, who put the seeds in the Food Freezer? Who's in charge of cleaning all these seeds. The rafters are full, the table is full.... 4. I must make a searching inventory. For those of you who are waiting for seed, I cannot possibly send send until I'm finished cleaning seed. And I'm working as fast I can. picasaweb.google.com/107334638896480841204/Seeds |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 23, 2013 17:51:56 GMT -5
Holly: Where have you been all my life? I really could have used that idea about 5 years ago -- of hanging seeds in paper bags from the roof of the barn. Does that help avoid mice?
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Post by 12540dumont on Nov 25, 2013 1:34:22 GMT -5
No mice, no rats can touch them...but if it's warm watch out for weevils. This was my idea to keep the creepers out of the grain. Actually I think it was Dar who tried to convince me to make something out of plywood and spikes. Well at 75.00 a sheet for plywood here, this was my solution. $10 chain, $3.00 s hooks and $.99 grocery bags. Grain gets dry. (don't let it dry too long) and is safe.
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Post by littleminnie on Nov 29, 2013 19:24:42 GMT -5
It got down to the single digits here last Saturday and ice is forming on the lakes. I didn't get all my carrots dug and now the ground is frozen but I have no energy and don't care. Most of my greens are still row covered and I haven't checked them in 2 weeks. I will try Sunday afternoon since it is going to be warmer. The EMT tubing tunnels are still up fine and the blocks, rocks and bags are holding in horrible winds. I did notice a tarp blown around I should go grab. Bigger news is: a few weeks ago one of my landlords said he had gone into the old shed no one goes into and found kittens so I started feeding them. The mom is feral and I wasn't sure what to do since winter was approaching. They were pretty healthy but had runny eyes and sometimes poopy butts. I just fed and watered them and tried to get them used to being touched. The two boys got tame but the two girls not so much. My husband said I could not bring them into our garage but my mom offered her porch and made it all cozy for them. I called the shelters but they wouldn't take them until 8 weeks even though they had been eating solid food for 3 weeks. So my mom and I caught them and put them in her garage on Monday the 11th. Right away their eyes cleared up and they got tamer and quite adorable. On Wednesday I took pics and thought I might as well put them on Craig's List. By Friday all were gone! They went in pairs; 2 on Thursday and 2 on Friday to nice homes. The one family texts me pics of them. I asked for $5 each because giving kittens away free sends a bad message and people will take them just to kill or abuse. But this all worked out so well! I was in love with the brown one and missed him at first but his family is so nice and he has his sister too. I have 3 adults housecats and couldn't take another.    |
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Post by bunkie on Dec 1, 2013 13:21:24 GMT -5
Awww, what cute kitties LM! I just saw somewhere an idea for helping feral cats out during the winter months. They took a styrafoam container and cut out a circle on one of the side for them to crawl in and out of and put a layer of straw in there to keep them warm.
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Post by steev on Dec 1, 2013 23:35:20 GMT -5
I am so cat-less, and here you are putting photos of kittens! Damn, that's just cold! What I miss most about having my own place, is cats. My last two are pushing up a tree on the farm. I'll have a place there, and cats, when I can.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 2, 2013 0:48:21 GMT -5
[...] cats. My last two are pushing up a tree on the farm.[...] I was proud of myself yesterday. I buried the thanksgiving turkey bones in the garden near the apricot tree. I have always felt bad about myself for throwing away perfectly good organic matter in the form of bones. Finally I have a strategy for dealing with them that keeps them away from the dog and doesn't attract pesky wild animals. They are deep enough that the rototiller won't bring them to the surface. |
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Post by steev on Dec 2, 2013 2:22:17 GMT -5
I know, I know, and when I croak, I'll just be organic matter to be dealt with, but a pet is a pet, and one has a sense of loss, having lost a creature with which one had interactions for years; not quite the relationship one may have had with a Thanksgiving turkey, however sensitive one may be to its remains being exhumed.
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Post by littleminnie on Dec 2, 2013 21:06:13 GMT -5
We have a Styrofoam cooler box we brought our fish home in that I have for a bed for the feral mom. I bring her warm water and food. It is going to be wicked cold here this weekend!
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Post by 12540dumont on Dec 2, 2013 22:39:08 GMT -5
Leo, says those are positively icky. He's almost jealous. That little orange tabby is sooo cute. Leo just went out to feed a new feral that turned up on the farm. A goofy looking short legged Classic European black and white. I'm calling it Spatz. It's like a wiener cat. Leo tames them down enough so that we can spay them. I have quite the farm crew out there.
I noticed that they have taken up winter habitation in one of the play houses that I stacked the row covers in. Yes, row covers make nice little kitty nests.
Bundle up you folks, it's going to snow on Tuesday and get mighty cold.
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Post by littleminnie on Dec 4, 2013 18:38:44 GMT -5
6 inches of snow here and still snowing. Gardening season is over, also straw and manure getting season is over too. I think I want to fly somewhere warm and work on a farm for one week a month. I miss soil and plants so much!
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Post by littleminnie on Dec 20, 2013 11:20:29 GMT -5
I need to organize my seeds better. I'm trying to figure out a filing method in my totes.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Dec 20, 2013 12:17:22 GMT -5
I need to organize my seeds better. I'm trying to figure out a filing method in my totes. The method that has worked best for me (as if I could call it a method) is to put the seeds into bins based on planting date: So I have a bin for things that need to be planted as soon as the snow melts, and a bin for things that need to be planted during mid-spring, and a bin for things that need to be started mid-winter for transplanting, and a bin for things to be planted after all danger of frost. Corn seed gets it's own bucket. So do beans. There are the bins for extra special seeds. Most things get stored in tool boxes, so the day after the snow melts I head out to the garden with the day-after-the-snow-melts toolbox. I have a bin that I think of as "not-intending-to-plant-this-year" which gets transferred from time to time into the give-this-to-someone-with-chickens bin. I also have bins for old-seed:eat-this-for-supper. |
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Post by zeedman on Dec 21, 2013 1:26:39 GMT -5
I need to organize my seeds better. I'm trying to figure out a filing method in my totes. Me too. Up until now, I just integrated the new seed each year into the storage boxes already in use. For some categories, that works OK... all Solanaceae fit in one box (filed alphabetically in large envelopes). Cucurbitaceae fits in one box, peas & runner beans share a box. Limas & genus Vigna are limited to one box each (if they overflow it, I eat the excess). For beans & soybeans, though, I might get 100+ pounds in a good year... which means rearranging boxes every year (5 each at present) to fit in the new seed. This is NOT my favorite task. I have been thinking for several years about organizing my working collection by the year grown (as I do when I freeze seed for backups) and am in the process of converting to that system now. For Solanaceae, I already put multiple years (each individually labeled) into a single large envelope per variety, so no change. For the categories that fit in one box, I would place dividers between years. For beans & soybeans (which make up the majority of my seed) I would start new boxes for each year's seed. There are both positives & negatives to both systems; the bottom line is that I will be trading sorting time at the end of the season, for searching time at the beginning of the season. It remains to be seen which of the two will be the least aggravating.  |
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