My Parents Greenhouse
Brent and I have been helping our dad build a greenhouse. Between the rainy weather and corona virus precautions the progress on my parents greenhouse has slowed way down. Greenhouse progress…all pressure treated framing.
Making Honey Bee Swarm Traps (Layens Bait Hives)
We currently have one Langstroth style bee hive in the orchard, but we would like to have a few more hives. We can buy a packaged box of bees that includes a queen for about $125. However, we may be able to catch local honey bees that are swarming, usually in the Spring. There are
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Shiitake Mushrooms In Winter
This past spring we inoculated about a dozen red oak logs with a cold weather shiitake mushroom strain called Snow Cap. They have been fruiting all winter long! We also inoculated logs with a warm weather strain called Halo. Between the two we should be harvesting mushrooms more regularly throughout the year. Picked almost a
2020 Garden Seedlings
We are already getting our seedlings started inside for the spring garden. For these seedlings we’re using a standard set of 4 foot LED lights as grow lights…nothing special. We also use a couple thermostatically controlled heating mats to help some seeds germinate. A 10″x 20″ flat of brassicas (brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli) planted
Making More Raised Garden Beds
We had a nice open area where the harbor freight portable garage was, so we made some more raised beds. These garden beds are made from cedar slabs, or first cuts from the chainsaw mill. I’ve been saving the good ones that have significant heart wood for building projects like this. The finished beds. 1/2
2019 Garden Harvest Top Ten Totals
We weigh all of the fruit and vegetables that we harvest from our garden, with the exception of some herbs that we pick for cooking. This year we grew 1260 lbs. of food, which is over 250 lbs. more than last year. Our biggest crop by far was tomatoes, which we canned the majority of
Recovering an Old Harbor Freight Portable Garage
We purchased a Harbor Freight Portable Garage that we used as storage when we first moved here. The tarp covering eventually deteriorated to the point where even copious use of duct tape was not going to fix it. Fortunately, all the stuff inside could be put in the workshop, a utility shed or donated to
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Tropical Storm Olga Remnants Hit Our Area Hard
High winds hit our area causing trees to snap and blow down. There are extensive power outages in the area and our electric company said to prepare for a multi-day outage. It sounded like a train was coming, but no tornadoes were reported that I’m aware of. We had a near miss on the cabin
DIY Soil Sifter For Promix Seed Starter
We needed a good way to take compressed blocks of promix, peat moss, or seed starter and break it up quickly into a nice useful mix free of chunks. So, we made this sifter primarily for starting seeds using promix from our local nursery. It works great, and here is the link to the Microgreensfarmer.com video
60 lbs. Of Pears? DIY Pear Cider!
We have 3 young pear trees, only two fruited yielding 60 lbs. of pears this year. We canned about a dozen pints, and the remainder made 3 gallons of hard pear cider (perry). The primary fermentation is going full bore. Here is a good article on making pear cider from PracticalSelfReliance.com. Notice the bubbles coming out