Homestead mailing list

[eureka AT hctc.net]

  > PLASTIC COVERED TUNNELS
What use do you have in mind for the row covers? If it's too keep plants
warm there is a fabric you can buy in rolls that can do this that also
deters bugs. Goes by many names.

> GREENHOUSE
Old windows work great for cold frames but if you live in a hot climate
like me they won't be that useful. We converted an old gazebo with plastic
last year into one, and this year we ordered Solexx to replace the
plastic, which lasted exactly one year.

> RAISED BEDS
Our raised beds work well and save our backs. We raised ours with free
scrap lumber mostly from pallets. We grow in three rows with two drip
irrigation tubes in between. Beds are about 3-4 feet wide and spaced to
get a wheel barrow in between.


> COMPOST PITS
You will need a lot of them, so don't buy one. We have seven all made from
old pallets.


> RABBITS & OTHER MUNCHING CRITTERS
We buried chicken wire about 4-6 inches deep and have had no further
problems from dillos or rabbits in the garden.
>  
> TOOLS
Buy quality and take good care of them.

> PLOW
We have too many rocks to till, and "mine" the topsoil and mulch off our
tree-lined creek to mix with our own chicken manure compost in the raised
beds. For our experimental grain this year I am using the Fukuoka no till
method, cutting the area short with the mower and scruffing the ground
with a dirt rake, and have my first cover crop (clover) growing there
before planting grain in the spring.

> POTATOES GROWN IN HAY?
We have no success with potatoes, not enough pH here.

> FIELD CORN
Chickens need more than just corn. Harvey Usery has published many good
articles on making your own feed. He uses a variety of things including
crab meal, something I have no access to and could not handle being
allergic to shellfish.

As I understand it, Dent corn is high in starch and is used for feed and
cornmeal, and most of it can be eaten early at the milk stage. The benefit
is it can be dried but it's not very sweet.
  
> WHEAT
> Is anyone growing?  Anyone converting it into flour for bread?
We grind wheat by hand, but we haven't grown it ourselves yet.

> HONEY
Not yet, but in the plans.

--Sage
Way Out in Texas