Up-cycled Projects for Sustainable Farming

This dresser was yellow was it came to Arizona before our daughter was born. It had lived through my family, having been well constructed, though over the years it began to have troubles. We reassembled the drawers, reattached the bottoms, reattached the faces and back corners, over and over and over again. That is,  until this Spring, when I just couldn't get it to go back together again.

I thought hard about how to re-purpose it, rather than give up on something that seemed to still have life in it. I considered adding board for shelves, but realistically, I could see that causing a TON of dusting, without really adding much convenience. I considered the shelves and using the drawer faces like flip up doors, but when I got into the actual design on that idea, it really didn't work. Nothing would fit right.

I poured over Pinterest. That's what I tell the 4H-ers to do.

So it sat on the back porch, waiting for my crazy over attached to tradition self until I finally just realized- the greatest need around here was the organic and sustainability projects. So a plan was hatched- this dresser would be phase one- of the livestock salad bars.

Salad bard for livestock. you ask? Why yes. By creating planters where the sprouts continue to grow, proving more greenery to the chickens and goats, we hope to supplement their organic nutrition with things more naturally eaten in the wild. Besides, what we grow ourselves, when know where it comes from, and it is more economical for feeding organic.

So we took this old dresser, and the kids and I got to work.

The main frame of the dresser went to the doe pen. Sorry, it was getting a bit dark.

Wyatt took the first of the drawers with no base out to the Big Pen.

He picked a spot where the chickens keep digging hols for him to fill (two birds, so to speak.) Not far from the waters, though. We won't water it with chicken water, but we do want to make watering pretty easy!

They filled them mostly full with garden soil from my re-potting pile. They left a bit of room at the top, so the animals would not have enough leverage or grasp to pull the plants out from the root. Then came chicken wire.

I had originally thought to use hardware cloth to keep the from pulling too much, and had been following the progress of a few similar projects. It turns out, at least one person was having trouble with hens getting stuck walking on the hardware cloth and losing toes. Who! I hadn't even though of that! Glad for someone else's honesty and experience. Hope those hens are getting around okay!

This one is outside the doe barn. Once we catch the water harvesting system up, we plan to have one there, too, and stationed this so that there was just enough room by the roof, but against the wall, for a water harvesting barrel, and this could easily be watered from it. She added plenty of seeds that had been soaking for a couple days.

Then she got to watering them two to three times each day.

This is what is coming up. I have some more for her to reseed later tonight.

This is the chicken one in the Big Pen. Too bad I didn't get a photo of this one earlier, since they are REALLY digging on their sprouts! Wyatt will be adding more seeds, but just because they weren't as established as we had thought they would be when the ladies began eating them. They like to work together to get the best grasp on the sprouted grains while one stands on the wire, the other puts her head through to munch!

It is doing quite well, but we will continue to work with it!

Next up, after reseeding? The Bucks and the A Pen! The more natural the food is, the better!!!

A Late Spring Update on the Sprout and Fodder Project

Yesterday, I was out working on chores while Bailey was walking her goat, when I found her chatting with a neighbor. It turns out we all have quite an interest in organics and grass fed livestock. We were talking about this project, and whether there was a way to use something similar, on a larger scale to raise grass fed livestock. That is still beyond either of our leagues, but it reminded me about this update I had begun earlier in the week...

On Thursday, this was the growth in one of the barley sprouting trays.  While the sprouts were tall, they seemed rather sparse in the tray,to my eye.

This was the growth in a tray of sunflower seeds begun the same day, though I didn't remember the day I had begun them. While the sunflower sprouts are shorter, and behind in growth cycle, they seemed thicker to me, sparking a talk with the kids.

Wyatt pulled a sprout or two from each, and laid them on the counter. The sunflower sprout is measurably thicker, and while it looks as long as the barley sprout, it is one of the very few tall sprouts from that tray. Some of them were still barely sprouting.

We talked about the trays starting on the same day, and I hadn't written down when the day was. We also talked about how I hadn't exactly measured how much I had used. I knew it was somewhere between 1.5 and 2 cups, but not if they were exactly the same.

Could that have had an effect? Well, we decided to go about it a little more scientifically, and began prepping the next two trays to start for the next cycle.

I started with two identical canning jars.

I measured two cups of sunflower seeds.

Into the jar they went.

Then two cups of barley.

Into the jar they went.

Then the seeds were rinsed and went in to soak on the counter.

When they were ready, they went into the trays on Friday,  We will weigh and measure the feed we gt from them, and share what we learn! Have you done similar experiments? What have you learned? Any other tricks to share?

Sprouts and Seedlings and Reaching for Spring

Some of you have been following or helping me with the sprouting project. The goal here is that because feeding our chickens all organic, soy-free, corn-free, non-GMO feed is so expensive, we are looking for healthy ways to give the chickens high quality feed without losing money on each dozen of eggs and while maintaining the standard of living we want for the flock, with natural poultry behaviors encouraged and lots of space. That is, of course, easier said than done.

We recently switched to a new sprouting tray type. This is the first new tray we have had grow and be ready to feed. The chickens really enjoyed it yesterday!

Some of the others really are taking their time to sprout. I am trying to get it all down to a system, and I will post a chart if I can get a definite one going.

this was right before I took the tray out yesterday, with the sprouted grass growing right through the top!

I don't think I have the stuff right yet, though, because I had quite a time getting the sprouts and the roots off the mesh I put in the bottom of hte tray. Going to have to check back with my mentors on that.

Have a BIG problem with a couple of sneaky chickens eating my seedlings! Managed to cover one of the planters, though it may be too late. I don't have any way to cover the greens where they plowed through much of the spinach and some of the kale yesterday. Any ideas for me? That is on the list this afternoon. Step one will be finding how they are sneaking out, though I think they have help from other flock members!

Well, I have lots more fun stuff to share, but will be glad to learn and share along with you all so we can all do better for our flocks!

Lov eto all.

Progress, Slowly but Surely!

Sometimes life just keeps throwing things at you to see how strong the core is and whether you can withstand the storm.  Last week, we learned the doe barn and the shower are definitely not very strong. Wel,, we had been putting those back together and helping them stand up for years, but the shower wall cracked open and the doe barn was a complete loss in the storm last week.

But life goes on, you pick up and keep going, and learn and are made better in the process.  While I could go for a little less of this shaping, I am learning a great deal, and the applied math is quite the ongoing home school lesson plan as a break from the books!

These photos are the sprouts in the new baskets. They are finally sprouting. Much of the way these baskets work is very different than the prototype containers I had been using. Once I get the correct things down to an exact science, I will share exact timing and measurements. 

If you have any you would like to share, there are several folks wanting to learn! Please feel free to comment directly to the blog so they can benefit from your knowledge and experience.

We did have one mishap where I was moving the stack for watering, and all the boxes fell and had to be put back together. I am a bit of a klutz, as you can tell...

On Monday, the kids and I began the research process on the new shower in earnest. When we renovated the master bedroom and bathroom about ten years ago, we put in a corner shower unit. Back then, it was a great choice, really opened up the room, and the plastic wall were really the latest.  (Hard to believe, huh?) This one was initially put in wrong, so Charlie and I had to do the best we could to try to redo it without damaging it, and in the end I ended up redoing the glass and caulking every year since. So when the crack appeared i the plastic wall last week, it was more annoyance than surprise.  

The design in the bathroom layout really needs to stay though, so my options are a different shower of he same type, a different shower of an upgraded version, a different one of a quarter round version, or a similar pan with tile walls and similar upgraded glass doors. 

The nice gentleman at Lowe's helped me inspect the pan on all of them, and showed me that the upgraded version of what we have was on a clearance sale. So, is that good or bad? Charlie and I thought about it, and yesterday, I went back and purchased the whole kit. I have 90 days to change my mind or change my mind about the walls and put in tile, so now I just need to decide whether I am really up for the entire installation. The demolition, on the other hand, I know I am up for, this thins has been annoying!

I think I have the doe barn issue narrowed down to a couple of possible solutions, which Charlie and I are still debating. But I need to get it fixed fairly quickly, so I do need to get on task with that!  What do you all use for your does? We do have one separate kidding pen, so sectioning off isn't a big deal, but we need something that will provide shelter from heat and wind, sun and rain, etc. And which will hold up to the weather and wind, while providing support as it will be a chunk of the fencing of this pen.

Well, slow and stead progress moving forward. The shower didn't fit in the little SUV, so the truck has to go back for it today, and hopefully this afternoon that new pen project can make some headway.  Oh, and kudos to those nice folks at Lowes. The recognized me, took time to help me, went out of their way to try to get everything together and keep me on time for work yesterday, and laughed their way through the ups and downs, evening noticing the USAA on my debit card and asking for my military ID so I could have a discount above and beyond the clearance price. So often doing things by myself as a military wife, I feel like there is a neon sign above my head saying cheat me, I feel so blessed when I do things usually left to the men and have such a wonderful experience!

Love to all, and have a wonderful day. Relish the blessings where you find them!

All the News that's Fit to Print?

There is always something going on around here! Had to share this photo- the green egg on the left came from one of the Ameraucanas in the big pen. Wyatt is saving it for his Papa, who says the double yolkers come from brown eggs. (Wyatt has read the info, he is trying to prove it to his Papa that it can happen to any hen, more likely as they age.)

Tuesday was my last day at the Marana Farmers Market. The market, until now run by the food bank, will move to a farm stand down the road, for a weekly farmers coop outside of the farms store.  While I plan to call them soon, I really don't know anything about it as of yet.

I took a moment leaving the market and heading off to teach to enjoy and take a few photos of the sunset. What a beautiful evening! 

I love the glow behind the telephone poles here.

My friend Mai traded me some of these baskets that she and some of the other girls are using for sprouting. For some reason, after being sick, and scrubbing and restarting my sprouting things, something in the equation had changed and they were not sprouting except very sparsely, so it was time for a change!

The baskets are a little big in weave on the bottom, so some folks use paper towels on the bottom, which can stick to the base of the seed bed, but Charlene has been using plastic needlepoint canvas successfully as a liner, so as long as I was redesigning, I thought I would try to do it right. 

After cleaning the baskets, I pulled out some of the extra large needlepoint canvas and began trimming to fit the bottom of the basket. The sides still have holes too, so some are using this system and putting the seeds closer to the center, or recognizing that they will have to water the trays and recover some of the seeds until the seed bed begins to root.

I trimmed two sheets down until they would fit in the baskets.

I traced the second onto a third canvas for the next round of seeds, but didn't cut it yet in case I decide I need to change it a little over the first couple days of watering.

This is how it looked before I added the barley.

The seeds in the basket/ tray.

The bottom tray all covered up.

The first two trays stacked. I will add to the bottom of the stack as I go and add to the trays in the system.

These were the old ones, they have been empties into the compost and are going to be switched to plant start duty I believe...

Wyatt has been sick, and Shadow Paws is a little stir crazy as well as really protective of her favorite human.  Wyatt is in the process of redesigning his room and bed, and had a box of tissues next to his bed with a box for garbage. 

While Wyatt was in the shower, Shadow decided to remove as many tissues as she could from the box. Gotta love our four footed friends!

Oh, I almost forgot- Mai also brought me a bamboo plant. While we are working on a big project, I cannot seem to decide where it will go, so it is being watered by the back porch so I don't forget about it =).

Last night we were out working on this special project again. Got a bit to go on it, and we need to get it primed and hopefully painted before rain comes in. So, how do you get the rain to finally come to the desert? Start an outdoor wood project at our house, and/ or plan an outdoor activity for the home school teens!

The geese felt the need to supervise our work and occasionally bicker in the middle of it.

We got hte wooden panel standing up, and were affixing it to the fence frames here.  The sunset through the doors was rather funny!

We got it attached on one side, still working on the other this morning, hopefully a little roofing done, too, we shall see!

There is always something to keep us on our toes and working around here, but we learn while we work and have fun together! Here's to hoping we get more done today, and knowing htat life will take us where it will. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Love to all.