Washingtonians

[Rainwolf]

for those who have soil issues with rocks... same here... But I made a homemade soil sifter.
like this:

I like the covering on this one...

Often called a rotary or trommel sifter

It is tipped just enough that the rocks go only one way... and the motor is slow enough things don't go flying but strong enough to not get bogged down when you load it up.

I've made a hatchet job of one and sifted all the rocks out of my "patio" area where I started to lay concrete chunks down to make my patio for the BBQ area.
(1/2 finished job driving me batty....)
I've used it in the garden as well but the garden will get another good sifting once all my projects get finished!
It is good exerscie and will make you stronger and maybe lose a little weight I lost a good 10lbs when I was doing the patio.... to bad I got it back and then some

I used 2 bike tire rims, skate board wheels, and a old grinder motor on a adjustable switch (forgot what they are called... like a dimmer)
a car v-belt and had to buy the belt wheel for the grinder....

Gotta rebuild the frame since I screwed it up but it did a great job! all I had to do was shovel and haul the rocks elsewhere.

 

[Rainwolf]

If you can make a couple different "barrels" for the sifter... 1 fine screened, 1 medium and 1 large....... Some places I just wanted to get the larger stuff and let the pea sized stuff go but I only had the fine grade screen on so spent so much extra time sifting to much rocks out lol....
Also if you have projects where some pea size gravel or something up to a inch is good (for pouring a concrete floor or path or stepping stones) it is nice to choose what size rocks you want sifted out.....

 

[Slinglings]

Rainwolf, how much did it cost to make the soil sifter? Would a smaller version be possible?

For a screen, I'm just using part of the "floor" for the run that came with my chicken coop kit, since I didn't want a floor. It is a wood frame with 1/4" hardware cloth. It works fine for small projects. I finished the sidewalk and new bed in my front yard..I think it turned out pretty well (thats where i was sifting rocks) We'll have to get together again sometime . I need more plant advice from your mother.

 

[3sacrowd]

We have an 11 week old Speckled Sussex Roo. He's gorgeous and would love to find a great home for him. The picture below was when he was a little younger. He's bigger and has beautiful tail feathers growing in. He just found his voice.

We are in Bellevue and can't keep a rooster in the city.

 

[Chickielady]

They do now! They had looked into it before but thought it was too pricey, but after a 3 more chickens and chasing the neighbors horse around and some complaints to animal control by the horse owner, they decided to get the fence. I only hear their dogs now.

We have an invisible fence for our dogs. Shasta tests it all the time. we installed it ourselves, not burried in the part that goes through the woods. Got it caught in the weed-eater and still need to repair it! She will escape to go after bears, but otherwise rarely leaves the property even when she is on the wrong side of the fence. If the weather is hot, she will escape and lie in the neighbor's pond. I should get her a kiddie pool.

Maybe have to shave her for summer.

 

[Chickielady]

I use to give my "Fred" peanutbutter on a saltine, PB up and he made the most rediculous faces and glared at me, but he always came back for more. He too loved PB. Jake on the other hand can take it or leave it, but loves Premium Saltines, other brands not so much. Dogs are funny people.

LOL !

You have to buy him the good stuff !!!!!!!!!

 

[Chickielady]

Hi all!

I am done catching up with three days of posts! Man this thread is chatty!

Welcome to the new people!

And I am sorry about those that have had losses of loved ones. Animal or human.

I am going to bed early and try to get a good nights sleep. I haven't had one in a few nights. And no I haven't called my Dr.'s office to find out what she recommended. I have been busy and keep forgetting to do it before they close for the day.
That is on the list for tomorrow.

As well as Ogress is being the ultimimate enabler and selling me her Hobavator Genesis tomorrow.

And I have two new additions to the family. Meet Bunnie and Clyde!

Clyde


Bunnie


Clyde is getting fixed tomorrow. I do not need any baby bunnies! Especially since they are brother and sister!
Have a great night everyone!

Oh so cute !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss my buns.....they look so snuggly !!!!

 

[Nikki99]

Oh they are adorable!

I hope you have fun with them, and your kids love them. There are a lot of experienced goat people here if you need help.

Thanks! So far we are definitely having fun with them. One is still pretty freaked out by everything but he's coming around slowly...I think/hope. The other is doing fantastic! We walk him all over the place on a leash and he's catching on pretty quickly. I can't wait until they get really comfortable here.
I'm sure I'll be asking lots of questions so it's good to hear that there are a lot of experienced goat people here.

Yep!


Just placed my order for this week. Here's the website: http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

That sounds really cool, I'm gonna have to talk to DH about this for sure!

Cute! They didn't by chance come from the Enumclaw auction, did they? That'd be funny to see the baby goat who butted my kid at the auction. He's now very afraid of baby goats. LOL! Sigh. Poor kid, always gotta learn by doing.

No, they didn't. We got them from a breeder in Molalla, Or. Aww, your poor little guy! Sometimes you end up with one that just has to learn the hard way...or is that all boys? Lol.

They are so cute!

We need goats. I mean really need so they can help me try and keep the roses, blackberries, and weeds at bay. DH would really like some nigerian dwarves. They are such cutie pies. Need to get going on some fencing so we can get some. I told him that big hunk of delivery truck bed out back would back would make an awesome goat shed if we just cut out some spots and put in windows. He may be looking at that different now.

Yes!! I can't wait until they really start goin to town with the stinkin blackberries! Those things pop up all over the dang place!
That's a really good idea you have to use the delivery truck bed. Right now ours are going to be in the same critter house as the birds but we may decide that we don't like that so much after awhile. Who knows though.
I hope our fencing holds up, I'm a bit concerned that it wont but only time will tell.
We decided to go with the Nigerian Dwarves because being a first time goat owner, I didn't really know what I was getting in to and I didn't want something that full grown, would weigh more then me. Lol.

Oh STOP! Those are wayyyy too cute! I need to have neighbors with some baby goats I can go love on. DH says we don't have room for baby goats in the city and that they're against city code here anyway. Thank goodness he's the voice of reason. I mean it. STOP with the adorable photos. No, I don't mean it. Keep them coming. LOVE them.

You can come over anytime you'd like to spread some love to the babies!

Maybe it'll make not being able to have your own a little easier to accept....or maybe it'll just make it worse, heck I don't know!! Lol

Here is a photo of the Table Mountain Fire, taken by someone from the Forest Service.

The smoke clouds are so intense that they are creating it's own lightning!



And just outside of Cle Elum:

Wow, part of me thinks the pictures look really cool but the other part of me is so sad for the people and animals in the paths of these fires. I hope everyone has been able to get out of the way of these fires and get to somewhere safe.

OMG! Someone please correct me if I am wrong... isn't the scuttle fly the fly they are INTENTIONALLY importing, hatching and releasing in Texas in an attempt to eradicate fire ants? The fly they are using in Texas does the exact same thing to the fire ant.

When I saw the documentary on using flies to eradicate the fire ants, I turned to my husband and said that this does not sound like a good idea at all... it sounded like an invitation to disaster. The scientists are trying to breed as many flies as possible to let free into the states.

Sometimes the things these different agencies do, makes ya wonder.....
I agree with you 100%, not a smart idea at all!

Guess I am gonna go wash eggs, and I finsihed the Buck painting today (finally) should have been done when Isaac was there...1 mo ago ?
But I crashed on the knee again, and sitting was an issue.

here is a preview:




Below is finished:





This one was for Chris McCary....finished & shipped monthas ago, then there was a pullet for Laura Haggarty.
Here is the start of the painting:




Here is the finsihed painting:





Then did one just now for Don Shriver, the Buckeye Poultry Club:







I think they will be pleased....but I have no way to ship it at present...so maybe friend Kathy will handle it for me, she is awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are incredible!! Very impressive! I can not paint to save my life but I'm pretty good at drawing. I love seeing other peoples work! These are all very nice!

Hey guys....it's my turn to

So ...

I just received 2 huge boxes of birds from the good ol' USPS, (note, said with maximum amount of hostility possible at the moment) and except for one bantam pullet, they are all dead.

The boxes are completely intact, without a single ding, I can't imagine what the hell happened.

I am absolutely sick to my stomach right now. The poor things are still in their boxes, I can't even look at them right now.

Some of these were EXTREMELY rare bantam white Faverolles...sent to me in an attempt to keep them from being lost as a variety, as I can count on 2 fingers the number of people that I know of that are breeding them...luckily I have some bantam black males to breed this little girl to, and I am going to guard her with my life....

Aww man, I'm so sorry. That's horrible.

I saw in one of your more recent posts that she has taken a liking to your D'Uccle, that's nice that you had someone she bonded with right away. Poor sweetie.

Hi all!

I am done catching up with three days of posts! Man this thread is chatty!

Welcome to the new people!

And I am sorry about those that have had losses of loved ones. Animal or human.

I am going to bed early and try to get a good nights sleep. I haven't had one in a few nights. And no I haven't called my Dr.'s office to find out what she recommended. I have been busy and keep forgetting to do it before they close for the day.
That is on the list for tomorrow.

As well as Ogress is being the ultimimate enabler and selling me her Hobavator Genesis tomorrow.

And I have two new additions to the family. Meet Bunnie and Clyde!

Clyde


Bunnie


Clyde is getting fixed tomorrow. I do not need any baby bunnies! Especially since they are brother and sister!
Have a great night everyone!

Awww, they are adorable!! Congrats on your new family members!

 

[Chickielady]

I like the raised beds too. My soil is also rocky and it makes it hard to dig up and til., Tends to break the tiller!

I fenced in my raised bed, and turned it into the silkie pen. I do have a very small raised bed that my DH put up for me. I only planted lettuce and tomatoes this year. But next year I hope to get a couple more going and have more produce. I do the best I can with the time and energy I have each year.

I do buy as much of my produce at the farmers markets around here though. It's great! I am between Woodinville and Duvall so I can hit both. Love to get fresh stuff and support the community of small farmers too. Works for me!

Raised beds are also great for the back...especially for us old folk !

It is so much easier to control weeds, rocks, and after all we have tons of excellent compost....works great.
I plan on getting more just for a strawberry bed.
Another thing you can do, is line the top edge of the boxes with copper 'tape'
So slugs will not climb & cross the copper.

 

[Chickielady]

I was going to do cornbread - but now you have me thinking GF biscuits - somewhere I have an excellent recipe...

The beans were still rock-hard after soaking them overnight, so I let them soak most of the day today as well this evening I made the chilli base to cook the beans in - smells wonderful! Instead of cooking stove-top as in the recipe, I dumped it all in by crock-pot, used a stick-blender to blend the chilli base smooth, and then added the beans. If it cooks properly overnight, the kids will get a thermos of it for school lunch toorrow along with a couple of biscuits, a little cheese, and the canned peaches I still have left from last year.

If you have a great tried & true GF Baking powder-type bisquit recipe, PLEASE send it to me !!!!!!!!!!