Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Today, Ron got off an hour early and we were able to put in two more
metal raised beds, each 10 ft long, 3 feet wide, and ~28 inches tall.  I
drug the siding down from the back pasture yesterday, and started
cutting it with the sawzall today.  I was about 3/4 of the way done when
I stopped to take a break, was having chest pains (stress from holiday
stuff, no worries) and Ron showed up early and helped me finish.  The
plan was akin to this..
Day 1 bring siding down to electricity
Day 2 cut siding to size
Day 3 move siding to inside garden fence
Day 4 assemble beds

Obviously, I was on Day 2.  Ron coming home to help turned my 4 day
project into a two day project.  :)  I love it when things actually get
done ahead of schedule!
Now, to load the beds...Phase 2
Step one, gather all the scrap chicken wire and hardware cloth that I
saved from the old chicken coop demolition and place in the bottom of
the beds.
Step 2, add rocks to weight down the wire and add mass and drainage.
This will take several days if not weeks of hauling rocks in the
wheelbarrow.
Step 3, add fallen branches, rotten firewood, old pine logs, etc for
mass and to add air into the pile
Step 4, rake up wasted hay around hay ring in pasture, drag tarp to beds
and fill beds as much as possible
Step 5, Finish removing old dirt floor of old chicken coop to fill beds
further
Step 5, Shovel out rabbit bins and add to the raised beds
Step 6, Add whatever compost I have leftover.
Step 7, Optional topping of the bed with topsoil for small seeded stuff.

I will continue to work on Phase 2 throughout the winter and into Spring
as my health and the weather allow.  It's always good to have at least
one bed under construction to put stuff that happens to come my
way...Most folks wish for nice, clean things for Christmas, but I'd be
happy as punch with an old moldy round bale of crappy hay!

So, to sum it up, I now have 5 monster raised beds..these last two are
narrower than the first ones I made last year, and they are also a bit
taller.
Bed 1 completed fall 2005, 16'x 4'x 24"
Beds 3 and 5 completed spring 2006, 10x4x2
Beds 2 and 4 completed winter 2006, 10x3x28"

This is corrugated metal siding, heavy gauge stuff, that is attached to
cedar posts at the corners.  Beds run lengthwise east to west.
I still have more siding left, and I will be making more raised beds in
the future.  I haven't measured, but a quick assessment of resources
tells me that I should be able to make at least 3 more beds.
I also scavenged some old wood this week and threw together a box frame
for a small raised bed.  You may have seen it if you looked at the pics
of Rip...it's in the background.  For that matter, Beds 1 and 3 are
shown in the picture 'patrolrip'.  Bed 2 now stands in the gap between
them, and there is a 3 foot aisle, large enough for the 2-wheeled barrow
(and later a wheelchair), between the beds.  I'll carpet and/or
cardboard the aisles to keep down weeds, hold in moisture, avoid
compaction, and to make barrowing easier.

And, speaking of Rip, I found him a home.  One of the girls who works
with Kate at the animal hospital will take him.  She's newly divorced
and her ex took her dogs out of spite.  She's always wanted a border
collie and fell in love with his pics.  Her kids will have a dog again
for Christmas.  She has both an outdoor kennel in fenced backyard and an
indoor kennel in her basement.  Tomorrow, I will be driving over to
Canton to deliver Rip to his new master.  Since she is a vet tech, too,
she and Kate will give Rip a workup, check him for heartworms, etc. and
have him neutered after Christmas.  I'm so happy that he has been rehomed.

Another good thing that happened today...
My neighbor works for a cardboard container plant.  They make the
displays for products that you see in stores.  Manufacturers send Todd
items, samples, and Todd creates and designs the display.  The company
then manufactures the boxes and or displays and ships them around the
world.  He gets all kinds of stuff for free.  Not too long ago, he
brought a pallet and box of Husquvarna supplies down...gloves, bar oil,
chainsaw bars, chains, everything Husky makes, just about.  We got
probably $700 worth of stuff for free.  Good neighbor, yesseree.
Well, tonight, I saw the tractor coming up the driveway and went out to
greet him.  He had another pallet and large box and this time the box
was full of Rootein fertilizer.  He brought down two large 4x4 boxes
full of fertilizer.  One box is tomato fertilizer(8-12-14) and one box
is rose fertilizer(6-14-12).  I don't know how many bags are in each
box, maybe hundreds, but I have fertilizer for life.  I did some
research tonight and discovered that this brand (I never buy stuff like
this so I had no clue) is supposed to be all natural and 'organic' or at
least less harmful than other similar fertilizers.  I did see on the
label that it contains kelp.  It was dark and I couldn't make out the
other words.
I can't wait until tomorrow to get out there and count bags of
fertilizer and read labels.  Todd said I could even sell the stuff if I
wanted to or didn't want to use it on my own garden!  I might just load
up the truck come spring and head to a flea market!!  Cha-Ching!  I
wonder how much this stuff costs in store?  The look/feel like 5 pound bags.

It was a banner day.

Bev


--
BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm   NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W    Bev is Earth, Ron is Sky