Our First Two Eggs! Time to Open Up the Nesting Boxes!

Chickens

The girls have found two eggs in the yard today!  Our fist ever.  We are all very excited here in Humbleville.  Perhaps I should have anticipated this and opened up the nesting boxes earlier.  Perhaps they’ll take right to it now that we’ve opened it up to them.

Humbleville First Egg

Why were the nesting boxes closed off?  Chickens like to lay their eggs in a nice, neat place.  Not one where they were sleeping and pooping.  Therefore I took a couple of pieces of scrap plywood we had around the suburban homestead, and we had that area of the coop blocked off.

Presently we are also in the process of integrating a new hen into our young flock.  We’ll share more about that in a future post in the not too distant future.  These last two days, I have been allowing New Chick to run in the main pen area during the day, and the other four hens continue to have access to our whole back yard.  This might need to change now that we are getting eggs.  I don’t think we want to block off their access to the nesting boxes throughout the day now.

nesting boxes opened

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Welcome to HumblevilleUSA, Oscar!

Aquaponics

I’ve read that the hardest part about keeping an aquaponics system is in tending to the fish.  After three die-offs of feeder fish in our system, we have decided to change our fish strategy.  Without further ado, please meet our new fish, Oscar !!!

What kind of fish is Oscar?  Well, he is an oscar.  Yes, the girls and I got very creating during our naming process for our new aquatic friend.  Oscar is a meat eater and a type of cichlid. Now we can combine our vermiculture hobby with our aquaponic hobby.  Thus far, Oscar has had his hunger satisfied by a single red wiggler earthworm in the morning, and a single pellet of Cichlid Gold.  In a little while we will introduce a little lettuce green into his diet.

Because Oscar prefers his water at a warm 78 degrees F, we have added a heater to the fish tank system.  The feeder fish tend to prefer cooler water so we did not have a heater at that time.  Of course, we couldn’t keep the feeder fish alive past a few weeks anyway, so please don’t take our fish husbandry tips as gospel yet.

The girls are fascinated by Oscar and said they think it looks like he has cursive writing on his sides (and I didn’t know the girls even know what cursive writing looked like).  They’ve been taking turns feeding him, and I hope that as he grows, so too does the love for plants and animals grow within the girls of HublevilleUSA.

GOD BLESS !!!

Oscar vs The Worm
Oscar vs The Worm

Matthew 4:18     Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

SFG Square Foot Garden 2016 mid August update – More Deer Attacks! Wood Chips & Peas!

Square Foot Gardening (SFG)

Welcome to Humbleville, USA!! August has presented us a normal summer thus far, with high heat and enough rain. Finally the front lawn is green again. The purple plastic snakes we have placed in our Square Foot Garden appear to keep the deer away, but the deer has still struck in other areas (he ate my pumpkin! he ate my pumpkin!). We will be considering putting up fencing at some point if this continues to be an issue.

Yes, that is 10 full yards of FREE wood chips you see. Although it’ll take quite a bit of human energy to get them placed where we desire, you can’t beat the price. The project will include us laying down cardboard from reclaimed cardboard boxes to kill any weeds or grass, and then heaping a minimum of six inches of mulch on top. Not only will this help us keep the weeds and grass from growing in our gardening area, but as these wood chips break down over time it will actually recondition the soil beneath it, potentially increasing our usable and viable garden space!

Here are some thoughts on wood chips from our blog: https://humblevilleusa.com?p=162

Please continue to join us on our journey by SUBSCRIBING to our Youtube channel. It really helps. Thank you and God Bless !!

Psalm 107:9
For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.

Making Homemade Dandelion Wine (With Taste Test!)

Food Storage

Next spring when your lawn in flush with yellow dandelions, consider using this wild edible plant as a food source. Seriously! The flower heads taste nice and look pretty in a salad. I’ll share how we make dandelion coffee with you sometime on this channel (so don’t forget to Subscribe). But for this project, we will show you from start to finish how to make your own homemade dandelion wine with just a few ingredients. Stay tuned to the end to see several friends and family taste this wild concoction.

If you’d like the recipe we used, you can find it here:  How to make Dandelion Wine

Proverbs 24:30-34
I passed by the field of the sluggard And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; Its surface was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,” Then your poverty will come as a robber And your want like an armed man.

Big Pile of FREE Wood Chips!

Square Foot Gardening (SFG)

Wood Chips

Looks like we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us in Humbleville, USA!  But at least we got all of this organic material for free!  That’s right, free.  We probably won’t use these in our flower beds right up next to the house, preferring cedar or cypress wood for its bug repellent properties.  However, I am itching to get the space between the SFG raised beds covered.

First we will want to acquire some free cardboard from local stores to lay upon the grass between the gardening beds to help kill the grass and weeds, and then pile on a half a dozen inches or more of these wood chips.  Not only will this create a nice look by keeping the grass and weeds from growing in that area, but as it breaks down over time, it will actually recondition the soil around it.  Perhaps in a couple of years the soil will be such that planting in between the beds will become a viable option.

How did we get all of these wood chips for free?  As luck would have it, I spotted a tree removal company working just down the street from where we live.  I pulled over and found the main guy and asked him if he’d like a free place to dump the wood chips made in their tree clean up job.  It is true what I heard about tree removal companies wanting places near the job site to dump their waste product so they don’t have to pay for dumping.  He had me write down my address and phone number, and I left them with instructions as to where in the yard to dump the wood chips, identifying it further with my bright orange wheelbarrow.  By the time I got home from my day job, I was the proud owner of 10 yards of free wood chips!!

One potential downside to getting free wood chips this way is that you get the WHOLE LOAD.  That is a lot of wood chips.  Perhaps your need isn’t as great as mine was.  If that’s the case, talk to your neighbors who may want to take some for themselves.  The other potential downside is all the work you’ll get to do spreading the wood chips on your property.  My girls have been a big help so far in this.  They stand at the ready with rakes in hand to help spread the wood chips when I dump a load from the wheelbarrow.  When they get board with that, they come help me move the chips in the white 4 gallon buckets (also gotten for free from a local ice cream shop) that they load up with plastic snow shovels from Dollar Tree.

It’s a priceless and proud sight to see these girls helping out their old man.  It’s how we do things in Humbleville, USA.

GOD BLESS !!!!

SFG Square Foot Garden 2016 mid July update – Deer Attack! Volunteer Squash and Mint

Square Foot Gardening (SFG)

Welcome to Humbleville, USA!! Well, we got a late start on the garden this year because early spring was so cold for so long, and then June was extremely dry (only one half inch of rain for the whole month). I really feel a bit behind. The late start was exacerbated by “Munchie” the deer eating the tops off most of my beans, some of the peas, and several tomatoes and pepper plants. Urrggh. We are hoping the fake snakes we put into the garden might help deter Munchie. We shall see!

I reference building out a sturdy and inexpensive garden trellis, and I want to provide a link to a previous video we did (warning: the first third of the video is out of focus, so sorry about that, but it does clear up during the meat of the construction):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylD11bYqI-w

Please continue to join us on our journey by SUBSCRIBING to this Youtube channel. It really helps. Thank you and God Bless !!

1 Kings 21:2

Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden because it is close beside my house, and I will give you a better vineyard than it in its place; if you like, I will give you the price of it in money.”

Making Fruit Leather in HumblevilleUSA with Apple Sauce

Dehydrating, Food Storage

Welcome to Humbleville, USA!! Here is a tasty and easy treat to make with the little ones … homemade fruit leather!! Apple sauce with no sugar added is a great base to make not only apple flavor fruit leather, but you can also puree in other fruits to add variety to your dehydrated fruit leather choices (strawberry is Clare’s second favorite flavor).

If you like this video, you may also enjoy our other dehydrator and food storage videos. Thank you and God Bless !!

SFG Square Foot Garden 2016 mid June update – Late start, new irrigation, kale seeds, and mulching

Square Foot Gardening (SFG)

Welcome to Humbleville, USA!! Well, we got a late start on the garden this year because early spring was so cold for so long. I really feel a bit behind. Due to my personal salsa consumption, we will try to step up our tomato and pepper production (sorry onion, we’ll set our sites on you for next year). Also, I feel like the yield from our 2015 garden could be improved.

We didn’t do a great job of keeping up with the watering. I’m hoping the drip irrigation system I’m installing will help us out. In addition, I will be using wood chips and other organic material as mulch to help the moisture retention. I’ve run into an issue with our rain catchment system, but that’s for another video.

God Bless !!!!!!!

Update on the Mystery Plant

Aquaponics, Square Foot Gardening (SFG)

Months ago, when I started what I thought was a new batch of thyme, these mystery plants cropped up.  Sharing a picture on social media, the best guess was that these were probably tomatoes.  And that is ending up to be true.  Previously I thought perhaps these were grape tomatoes or possibly cherry tomatoes as this is what we mainly planted in the 2015 season.  But these fruits are too big to be anything but a regular sized tomato.  The picture below is of the main plant I have in my desktop aquaponic bed.  There is one cluster of five.

Aquaponic Tomato

The aquaponic tomato plant has grown more rapidly than the companion tomato plant that I left in a large pot.  That being said, the potted tomato had grown to a nearly unmanageable size indoors in front of our west facing picture window.  This past weekend we relocated it to the outdoor garden area.  While this plant has not produced any fruit as of yet, there are clusters of small yellow flowers.  We shall see if it will adjust to the transition, and see if I can keep it watered and fed enough to be a highly productive tomato plant.

Tall tomato for mid-June

God Bless !!!