Rainy Day Pondering

We have had a glorious spring but very little rain.  Today is going to be all rain, all the time.

With that, I am updating my blog a bit.  Look to the left and see the links.  Does anyone have any suggestions on cool urban farming websites, urban chickens or local-vore websites?  I would love to get some to add to the link lists.

My seeds are spread out on my work bench.  Waiting for the right time to plan and I am enough of a wimp that I am not going to plant in the rain.

Playing With Dirt

OK,OK not really playing.  It was hard work.  That said, what better way to spend Earth Day?

The first gardens are in.  They are primarily for veggies and yes, we are generally using the square foot method.  I say "generally" because a friend gave me 25 strawberry plants and it just put them in without the square foot measure.  Another friend gave me a kale seedlings and I have tucked them into another spot but will transplant them again when the time comes.

I started with a decking planks and added 2 yards of top soil.  In all, 132 square feet of planting space.  I added some horse manure and will like add some sphagnum moss to lighten it up slightly. I did not put weed barrier down on the grass.  I got some advice that said that I could put down layers of newspaper or weed-wack the grass down to the dirt level and just cover it over.  I took that last option.

I am sore and happy and slightly sunburned.   Just about giddy with excitement about what we get to do next. 

A Day of Looking Around...

We have had some wonderful weather so far this spring and I took advantage of it by planting a bunch of irises given to us by our wonderful neighbor and a friend ours.  I also took the opportunity to look around a little bit.

We have great bird watching in the trees.  Chickadees, Nuthatches, Red Bellies, Hairies, Downies, Robins all over, Gold and Purple Finches,  Cardinals.  And...a Cooper's Hawk, well, actually I think there are two.

Our next door neighbor (other side from the iris gifter) had a huge, dead looking pine tree in their yard.  It sort of leans, no needles, no leaves.  Turns out it was not dead at all in any way and it is now greener that the rest.  It is a European Larch - deciduous pine of sorts.  It has a huge nest being built on one of the branches and I think this might be our Cooper's hawk pair.  We'll see but I am concerned for our buckeye chicks arrival and have a new emphasis on both getting the gardens planted AND getting the coop and chicken run constructed.  That coopers nest will weigh heavily on my mind during this next phase.  Don't get me wrong, I like them.  But they are a natural predator for the chicks.

 Next up: Veggie and Flower Gardens and "The Coop" - chicks are on the way sooner rather than later (meaning a week or so) and I have to get things going!  Rain Barrels and a herb garden will round out the spring works. I'm excited.

Free Compost Bins...sweat equity

This post begins with a shout out to Craigslist.org free stuff. People give the stuff they don't want away. Its a little like FreeCycle but without the joining the group and getting all the email part.

Next comes an introduction to shipping pallets. I love them. You need a van or truck to pick up a pile but they are often made out of hardwood and they make great project stock, fire wood, you name it. I have even seen a pretty cool chicken coop make from pallets. The down side? They take effort - sweat equity. They generally have to be taken apart or have things added to them to make them work for your project.  My goal was to make composting bins for free. 

Where do you get free pallets?  Craigslist.org (free)...it is a wonderful place to find all sorts of things for your home and garden.  

One pallet is in the back with a few extra slats to fill in the blanks. Then two pallets were unscrewed and re-constituted as the 3 walls. 4 hours - an additional hour to finish it off with front panels made from scrap shelves I found in the garage.

And then a funny happens.  We have a sealed black plastic composter for our kitchen scraps.  I felt that two bins would be enough for the pallet composter...this was not the case so, as you can see in the final picture, there is a third bin.  Made the same way as the others.Also, not that these are now FULL.  It took no time to fill them.

Some of the fronts are painted, this is because the wood was not sealed - I felt it would last longer if a little paint sealed the edges.

 We will probably need more bins somewhere else. But for now, we have compost bins for free.   This makes me and my empty wallet pretty darn happy.  Next up?  Well, its spring so there will be some planting.  Chicks are ordered and will arrive in a couple weeks and its time to put the gardens in.  None of this will be free.  After that - rainbarrels for $20...seriously, I'll show you.