But by today the clouds blew away, the sun was bright and the temps reached 6o degrees.
After the Cowboys were slaughtered by the Vikings, I went to the barn where my horse is stabled. I decided to clean all the stalls (3 horse stalls). I also decided to take all of that home with me. I got 7 huge deep wheelbarrows of very wet dirty horse bedding....gold to any gardener.
Next week I will clean out 3 goat pens. I also picked up 3 huge 4.5 foot tall bags of cans that the owners save for me to sell to my scrap yard and a leaky horse water trough about 3 ft tall and 4-5 ft long. This was found by the side of the road and will be used to house my baby ducks and geese. These will be additions to my farm this year.
New Project:
I am not sure if I told you but I don't like hot tubs. Not any kind. not free standing and not the kind built into pools. I have no idea why except that I like to see the bottom of water I am swimming in.
Well as you know I have a non working hot tub in the back yard. It is in a wood shelter with a shelf on the left side and steps up to it. It also have a vinyl covered styrofoam 4 part cover. I have toyed with the idea of fixing it but it would be 1k to fix at least for something I don't like. Then I thought about selling it on craigs list. With my luck someone would get hurt hauling it off and I would get sued.
Then I had an idea....not just any idea but what I feel is a great idea. As you know I am expanding my garden. My dreams is to have huge fruit and veggies. What is one of the things that can help me accomplish this? Earthworms!!
Earthworms have so many uses. They breakdown food scraps, newspapers, shredded bills that you don't want to go into the trash, horse stall and goat stall clean out, chicken house clean outs and rabbit poo....you name it they will eat it. And they turn it into rich dirt which can be added to garden soil.
The worms are prolific and reproduce constantly. What can I used the extra worms for? First as a source of a little extra money. Not only can I sell the worms for bait, but I can sell the castings and the worm juice which has to be drained out of the bottom of the worm farm. These can be bagged and bottled and sold as a concentrated fertilizer.
Also, earthworms can be fed to chickens and chicks as a protein source. I will use the first worm juice diluted in my garden.
I know that all of my grand kids will really get into helping count out earthworms and pack them into foam containers once I find a bait shop who needs them. I will of course let them keep the money for the worms they sell. This should go a long way toward the Cubscout conservation lessons.
I expect this to do well as the hot tub is covered and should offer a great deal of shade and will keep the temps fairly low as well as the sealed underside of the hot tub which will/should keep the dirt from being either too hot or too cold.
I will go to Lowes and look at the pvc piping and find an easy to install spigot, and will get a large bag of steel wool. I will install the spigot at the bottom and will stuff steel wool into any of the holes or intakes to keep the worms from crawling through the pvc plumbing.
I am excited about this project. I believe it will be very productive on many levels.
Hope Inspiring Evening:
As I pulled into my drive, I noticed that a flock of about 200 robins was in my field and yard. I know that they winter in this area but this is the first time they have come to visit. This is very cool because I love their sounds and songs. Also the sun was going down so as they flew back and forth their red bellies were firey red in the evening light. The local birds were not to be out done. The redwing blackbirds in the dead cattails were singing, the song sparrows getting ready for night in the red tip foetina were singing their spring songs, not the ones they sing in the winter, a local mocking bird had to be the loudest I have heard all winter.
All of this in a golden hue of the setting sun. It was very very wonderful. In these pictures look closely at the ground. I wanted to share.
2 comments:
Now that is what I call repurposing! Never would have thought to use the hot tub for worms! :) Hey, do you have ideas for what to do with chicken feed bags? The plastic kind. I have a billion I'd like to use for something. I do love hot tubs though...some day I want to own one. Someday! :)
Jennifer I bet you spend money on trash bags at the grocery store don't you? I would first use them for that. If I still had left overs you can set one at the base of every fruit tree, fill it with water and take a needle and poke little holes in the bottom for slow release irrigation; tie the top with wire or something strong. And even then if you have left overs, you can fill them with chopped leaves and sprinkle the leaves with water and tie them shut and put them in a shady place until fall and then take the leaf mold and add it to your garden. If you think they will stand up to another year, then fill them up again. ....i will keep thinking
I have run into a snag though. The curved seats which I have always hated will hold fluid. I am trying to figure out a way to "fill" the seats at an angle so the fluid will drain down into the bottom. Let me know if you have any ideas.
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