Nostalgia..... beloved Ball clamp jars......on Etsy.
Posted on 11/14/2020 5:56:19 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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15 AMAZING DIY Tree Log Projects:
Cute.....a budding gourmet.
This frittata is actually recommended as a b/fast dish.
Awesome!
I do the tree log fence.
New ideas there.
I have one they don’t have.
1. Leave 3 to 6 feet of the stump in the ground. Use them as fence posts.
2. Staple deer fencing or poultry fencing into the stumps.
We had a large, very old, Cottonwood (AKA Good for NOTHING!) tree in the front corner of the yard that FINALLY died. Beau took it down, but left me the hollowed stump for planting flowers in while it fades away.
And guess what? The OTHER Cottonwood (AKA Good for NOTHING!) tree has been losing limbs for the past 10 years and also needs to come down - before it falls on the deck. Cannot WAIT for that thing to be gone - I don’t want a stump LEFT from that useless tree! ;)
I REALLY like the wooden path made of stump ‘slices.’ That would look GREAT leading from our porch to the garden, which is exactly where I and all the dogs/cats walk every day when we go out to do our morning inspections of the gardens in season and the greenhouse. :)
Congrats Mrs. Augie! Nice looking buck.
Disagree, you will get a whole lot of weeds.
That flow chart needs a “Go ask your question on the FR Weekly Garden Thread” box.
what I miss about the east, and midwest, is the forests in the fall....the lovely refreshing smell of fallen leaves, the briskness in the air, and the ability to look right thru the forest because the leaves are on the ground...
Our 6 Buckeye chicks seem to be doing well, but, those darn things don’t recognize anything but chick starter as food. I keep trying to mix in other things, let ‘em get hungry, etc., even bread crumbs they ignore. The only thing NOT Chick Starter they’ve eaten in 3 weeks is some little pieces of cut up red grapes, and a little scratch grain. I’ve never seen this problem! The 6 ISA Browns that preceded them (and are doing very well) would eat almost anything that we gave them.
BTW, tho’ they may not kill rodents, these ISA Browns are very nice birds. Although I know they can fly well enough, they don’t try to fly out of the fenced in area we sometimes leave them in. They will fly up to the top of the chicken house (higher than the fence) but seem content to stay inside the fence. All in all, they seem to be very friendly, “manageable” birds. Hopefully they’ll crank out some eggs in another month or so, tho’ I expect low production at first due to it being winter.
I don’t remember what the packaging said, but I think I’ve fed Chick Started to hens longer than 3 weeks? Can’t remember. And, yes. Egg production goes hand in hand with hours of daylight. I used to compensate for that by buying Buff Orpingtons and other breeds that lay through winter months.
We also had electricity to our coop, so we had shop lights in there and kept them on all the time once Fall hit, and I also had a radio going on Talk Radio and that helped somewhat with predators as they heard human voices and stayed away.
However, my chickens were very opinionated and quoted Rush Limbaugh to me all the time. ;)
Oh, the instructions on the “Chick Starter” we feed to the chicks instruct it’s use until they begin laying(!), and we usually go with it as the chicks’ primary food for at least 2 months, then taper it off slowly. However, we usually supplement w/ scraps after a couple weeks (from purchase)to add fruits & veggies, and esp. meat / fish protein & fats. In cool weather we feed them some scratch grains too. The scraps are “free” at this point, of course - another modest factor.
Layer pellets taper in after 4 months or so (depending a little on breed). Once we let pullets free range roam with the other birds, they have access to the layer pellets.
Whether all that is “right”, I don’t know - it seems to work for us. It also gives me an excuse to get out and catch a few extra fish. Esp. with smallish bluegill out of overpopulated ponds, often I just boil ‘em and give them to the chickens. Until these Buckeyes, they all love the fish!
Anyway, since my earlier post, after mixing scratch grains in with the chick starter in repeated small batches into the feeder, the Buckeyes are finally eating that. Bread crumbs in the 1/8” size range, ditto. Chopped red grapes, too. The chopped grapes they really go for. But they toss and then scratch bits of cooked meat & fat or fish aside, ditto pieces of most anything larger. 1/10 of a slice of wheat bread? Forget it. It’s not a matter of the Buckeyes starving, it’s just weird because I’ve never seen any chicks not eat fresh scraps, not destroy and eat bread chunks, etc., fairly readily. Even garden worms these Buckeye turn up their noses, er, beaks at. Most chicks go nuts over worms.
I guess we’ll just keep trying. (Rolling eyes emoticon needed.)
As for the rest:
Breeds - The Buckeyes should be good winter layers, though that’s some time off, and I read the ISA Browns are sometimes fairly good winter layers. Our Australorp is busy being Mom to a hatchling right now, a couple other winter layers turned out to be different breeds than what the store said (Got a sapphire Easter Egger out of that deal!) So, I’ll give the other birds some extra light - maybe 4 hours a night, and see how it goes. I have a dusk to dawn timer with other settings (goes 2/4/6/8 hours after sunset also) all set up now. I don’t want to “burn out” the hens - just get 2-3 eggs a week out of them. Total non-producers are going to be soup...
We have electricity to all the coops - I just made it “permanent” to all but the one for older chicks or those with hen Mom’s (ie., we hatched out the chicks here), which will happen soon too. (That coop needs a 50’ run underground - the trench is half dug.) I also added semi-permanent timed lighting to all, too, this last week. One coop has a heater I made up with a high voltage industrial quartz heater element (now runs at lower power on 120 AC) and an old shop light whose ballast had failed. This allows heat with no light, when desired, and that quartz element should last about 50 years at this power level! (I got tired of buying heat lamp bulbs.)
The quartz element itself comes enclosed in a compact fixture, sort of a 1 ft. long narrow stainless steel and glass “box” with the wires running out, and mounting bolts integral— very nice. Ebay deal. A shielded thermostat in the coop regulates it. So... the coop looks kinda “hillbilly” and the heater setup looks like it’d cost $300+ from a farm supply store, IF they even had something that nice!
Now the radio — that’s a great idea! I have an extra that would work fine. The only problem is that most overnight talk radio here is Art Bell. Will the chickens become psychotic? Attract aliens? ;-)
LOL! Art Bell!
They might need another chicken to show them that those things are edible.
I’ve noticed that some chickens will only eat things they’re familiar with, or that look like things they’re familiar with. Others will peck anything, and if they like it they’ll go back for more.
With my very first batch of chickens, I dropped a small earthworm in their brooder when they were about 3 weeks old. 4 of them went “EEEWW!! It’s wiggling!!!” while the 5th raced over and gobbled it down. After a couple rounds of this, the others figured it out, but it took that one brave chicken to show them it was ok.
Later, when I rescued a hen that was found wandering in the streets, I ran into the same thing. She would only eat things that were small and pellet-shaped. So, sunflower seeds were ok, but apple slices or a piece of bread were not. It took her a long time to learn how to eat real food, even with 5 other birds showing her how.
Mmmmmm....thx for the Tomato Bisque recipe.......a keeper.
Nostalgia..... beloved Ball clamp jars......on Etsy.
I remember those old zinc tops but don’t think I have one of them. Thanks for the information on how to date the jars. I don’t think I’ll ever part with them. There is way too much sentimental value for me to do that.
Too, too funny!
Pro Tip: 'Looking Glass' Paint by Krylon makes Mason Jars, or any clear glassware look like Mercury Glass. It's really pretty! Not food-safe though, of course.
I was VERY surprised at how old some of mine were, once I figured out that it was the ‘logo’ that gave me the manufacturing dates. One is 120 years old and not a single chip, and still with her original lid. What are the odds?
I sure would like to find some of the colored jars in a forgotten attic Estate Sale one day! :)
This is obviously on a larger scale than most of us grow, but this farmer said that by planting Marigolds between their cabbage crop rows, they had little to no cabbage worms. I'm going to do a row like this next year, just because it's useful & pretty. Red Cabbages and Orange Marigolds would also look cool together and would literally last my ENTIRE growing season.
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