We use wood shavings from a local sawmill to cover the floor in the chicken coop. Our trailer has a 4’x8’ bed with 3.5’ walls and rear gate. The sawmill sells the shavings by volume. So, to make things easy, I marked the walls with stripes at 1’ and 2’ heights. Now, when I fill […]
Last summer, our electric fence charger malfunctioned. While the smoke prevents progress on the driveway, I decided to cross a different item off my to-do list, and began the repair process. I perused some how-to videos and found the information that seemed necessary. Opening the case was, indeed, as easy as was indicated in the
Shipping to Alaska Read More »
In our back yard we have a lilac which was given to us as a wedding present. It has taken a long time to mature but has produced a nice number of blossoms for the past few years. At first, we thought that we had a weak plant, because it took forever to show any
Today was the first lawn mowing of the year. Fortunately, the grass grows slowly here. I can usually get away with mowing the lawn four or five times in the summer. The iris are now in bloom. I look forward to this happening. Iris grow wild here and I have been spreading them along the
The Iris Are in Bloom Read More »
Today, there were enough roses in bloom that Melissa decided to begin harvesting petals. She makes an excellent rose petal jelly from them. It is wonderful stuff, which tastes very much like the roses smell. Around here, Arctic Roses and Sitka Roses grow wild. They can reach 6’ tall and the stems can be almost
The Roses Are In Bloom Read More »
In the back yard we have some Saskatoon bushes. Another name for them is “Juneberries,” which is perfect because they bloomed today. These bushes are supposed to produce berries within a few years, but ours took much longer and they still don’t bear well. Unfortunately, we unintentionally made them into an experiment. They have been
It is Memorial Day, today and there are some yellow flowers blooming in the yard. We haven’t raked the yard since fall and the grass is still asleep. So, these flowers have not had anything to disturb them. They are wildflowers that pop up here and there. I don’t know what they are called, but
The First Flowers of the Season Read More »
In the first few days after they arrived, we lost two more Big Reds, a Pearl White, and a Maran. In the last few days there have been no mortalities so we may be past the worst of it. In past years, we have had a much lower percentage of mortalities and few losses after