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We tried kohlrabi last year and I was surprised how big it got. My wife started it from seed in the greenhouse last year then transplanted to the garden. I'm not a big fan of rabbit food, but it was pretty good and supposed to be very healthy.

I mentioned before that we scavenge the local nurseries for used black plastic pots sizes 1 gal-15 gal to do some container gardening or start trees and such. We'll also pick up the used black trays with the little square pots to start our flowers and veggies. They work great, are easy to...

I posted this on another thread, but thought it applied here as well. We are always looking for ways to recycle and repurpose. We have been saving plastic berry containers for the day we could find a use for them. Over the winter we started sprouting oats and wheat for the flock (and us) in them...

It warmed up enough to melt the snow in our raised beds today. Added some compost and turned the flock loose to till it in. We were pleased to see the strawberries poking up already. The chickens tore them up pretty bad last fall and we weren't sure they would come back.

Back from the equator and ready to get the cold frames up and running. All the cold weather crops are sprouted and growing in the greenhouse, and a broody Sussex hen is sitting on 8 eggs to replenish the flock. We expect a thaw next week so we can spread some compost and let the girls (our...

Yes, the RTS bottle is preset at the right concentration. You can dial the opening to set the spray pattern which is nice and prevents waste. I am on a well also and the concentration does not waiver with the pressure. That RTS Orchard spray is in most garden centers and online from $22.50-$31.00.

Is your friendly neighborhood groundhog still hanging around? Seems like we get one every spring that sets up shop under the barn within striking distance of the garden, then out comes the live trap. This year I kept finding a rabbit in the garden and wondered how it got through the electric...

The American plum is native and seems to be the hardiest. Most of its cultivars should do well enough to produce in the northern states. I stopped by a local green house to get pics of the products I use on my fruit trees. I spray the Orchard spray (sulfur and pyrethrin) right at bud break in...

Plums are amazingly hardy and a number of them will survive MN winters. We've had apples, plums, pears and cherries for about ten years. I resisted spraying for years and never got much of a crop. The last two years I relented and have been using an organic spray regimen to control the...

After chatting up the pets this morning, I felt like giving them all treats this afternoon. The parrot did his "funky chicken dance" for me and got 2 pecans in the shell and an ear of corn and the cat woke up just long enough to scarf down his chicken treats. The chickies got most of my...

Buck handles the cats just fine. Even in their prime they were scared to death of him. A few nips to the ears and toes cured any thoughts of a quick meal by the feline contingent.

We used to volunteer for a wild animal rescue center and they had a pair of rescued African Grays. When she laid eggs my wife volunteered us to raise one. We raised him from a hatched egg, fed him by syringe and hand fed him as a baby. His name is Buck because he is the same color (scarlet and...

I agree, not the easiest thing to do, but there are options. I slipped over to the dark side when my wife got me a Nook reader because she was tired of my avid reading habit generating endless piles of books around the house. I can download just about any book I want, and I have discovered that...

Apparently African Gray parrots have the intelligence of a 2-3 year old child. He is certainly devious enough, throws tantrums now and then and talks better than a two year old. He imitates me and my wife so perfectly that we have been fooled into thinking the other was talking to us. He has...

I remember the naughty cat days, our rescues are so old now they just sleep 22 hours a day and the only excercise they get is the walk back and forth to the litter box and the food dish. The 20 year old parrot on the other hand, is not to be trusted. He especially likes to remove zippers from...

It was sloppy, cold and rainy most of the day, so I fired up the wood stove in the shop and built bird houses while D worked on her quilt. It was a good day for indoor projects.

Looks like winter is finally arriving :wee with snow and temps in the teens by Saturday. Today, I've been prepping...stacked seasoned wood in a rick on the porch, swapped out the screens for plexi in all but two vent windows in the coop, fired up the generator and topped off the gas, and...

I bought a 10 lb bag of organic oats and we sprout them during the winter in a 24" x 12" tray. We tear off a chunk every day for the girls, and of course the kitties have full access! It's a great winter substitute for the lack of grazing grass. Had to work in the big city today so no fun in...

Using a #9 Griswold Deep Skillet and lid right now to make braised chicken for lunch. Old cast iron makes the best biscuits, cobblers & chicken fried steak (and chicken fried chicken). We have a little #6 Griswold dutch oven perfefect for chile for 2. Once it's seasoned well it is low...

Holy cow, that's awesome! I'm excited for you because I am an avid nut case of a collector of Griswold cast iron cookware. I have picked, collected and sold a couple thousand pieces of cast iron cookware over the years. That 3-hole handle Erie shallow skillet is part of a set of 4 sizes they...