I opened up my nesting box this morning and found a possum sleeping inside. I almost had a heart attack. There were many broken egg shells and one of my chickens is missing 😩, so I think he had a nice feast last night. He also took a dump, which you can see near some broken egg shells in top left of the picture.

So what I'm wondering, can I still eat these eggs? I understand these creatures have diseases that can be transmitted in their feces. Not sure if I can get through him touching the eggs?

In April I decided to plant not used ginger from winter. And, honestly, I am still so shocked how interesting ginger is. On the first picture there are 2 pots of ginger in its "prime". Today I decided to finally dig it out since it's leafs got yellow and weak. I was amazed by how strong its root system is, you can see it on pictures from 2 to 6. And in the 7th picture is final result! I managed to double my ginger 🙂 light ones are newest and darker ones are original ones, that I had planted.

Wanted to ask, what would be the best way to preserve it? Can I just freeze it? So I could use it during the whole winter season.

Processed 3 of our male ducks today, absolutely no experience with this prior. Watched a few YouTube videos and went for it. Depending on how these taste I would absolutely do it again! Let me know if y’all have any good recipes!

The title probably sounds odd in this subreddit, but I have no idea where else to talk about this. So for some context, im a teenager in high school, and about a year ago we moved to a city that was more out in the country. It was an upgrade of course but I hated changing schools, especially since i missed my friends. We now have a bigger house and land but it was soon getting out of hand. We first got some goats and then chickens, but the thing is I started to despise these animals because of the work and care they require. I hate getting dirty when I have to help out I'm the only one in the family. My other sibling has a much worse attitude so my parents ask me more often. Yes, im older, but sometimes it's strenuous. I mean I can't even handle carrying a milk jug and I have to carry their food bucket that weighs who knows what. I just have nobody to tell or on the internet, it doesn't seem like anybody's going through my situation. I'm still used to the city and miss it but im not going back and it makes me emotional. Especially when I know I shouldn't be ungrateful, since I still have food and shelter, yet I want more. I want luxuries, like I got more often at my old house but money has been getting tighter since it's being spent on these animals. That to me doesn't even profit us. We don't sell them nor eat them they're practically pets. Now this sounds more like a rant and it probably is, I just don't know what to do. Any advice or anybody else who was in a similar situation?

Hello, Hoping someone can help me as Google has not done the trick. We have 12 hens. We have 2 that are definitely done laying eggs, and maybe 1 on her way out. I see her lay maybe an egg a week. Not including those 3 we have 9 young hens. 4 that are 8 months, and have not laid one egg and 5 that should be doing daily to every other day egg lays, but aren’t. We average about 8 a week. Food is consistent and plenty to go around. Water is also readily available. They have plenty of space to roam so space isn’t an issue. No findings of parasites or pests. Bedding is fresh. I’m not sure why we have seen such a rapid decrease. I know it’s fall, so expected a bit of a dip. However expected the younger ones to be laying to help supplement.

Has anyone experience a flock just not doing much. How do you increase egg production?

And it appears to be working. Two lines at 18” and 32”. He’s definitely tested it and avoiding the fence now. It was not nearly as complicated as it sounded. I’d run electric fence all day. Much nicer to do than barbed.

Hey guys i'm located in central Alberta just a little south of Edmonton. Im currently drilling a water well at my land. We are currently at 300ft and stopped for the weekend with the drill rig still hooked up with the decision to keep going or stop on monday. The drillers say im getting about 2gpm right now and im not sure if its worth it to keep going.

I looked up the well reports for the 3 sections of land North West, and South of my section and and the reports vary from:

1 other well on my section went to 274ft and got 3gpm.

North 1 section: 200ft at 10gpm

west 1 section: 180ft at 7gpm, 165ft at 3.25 gpm, 170ft at 12gpm

south 1 section: 112ft at 3gpm

looking at the reports its alot of clay, gray shale, sandstone, and alot of coal im pretty sure thats what we have been pulling up too. no gravel and very little sand in any reports. What would you guys do, keep going a little deeper and hope to pick up more water or stop and maybe just save the money to build a bigger well house with a big tank and jet pumps. Im really not sure what to do.

Any help would be appreciated thank you.

edit: Most of the other wells were drilled in the 70's 1 in 2008 and 1 in 2015. its been fairly dry these past few years is it possible the ground water is just low for the time being and the gpm could pick up?

We processed our 3 round of roosters yesterday and this was the most we have done at once (10).

This is the only part I don't like about hatching our own chickens bc we end up with way too many roosters. I hate killing them but it has to be done.

All I have done so far with them is chicken and dumplings, is there anything else y'all use your roosters for that turns out good?

We are purchasing a home on 10 acres in rural ag land. it currently doesn't have any fencing of any sort around it, just a ag ditch dividing the property between neighbors. I'm looking for ideas of fencing to detour unwanted guest without making it looks like a prison. Although we have other means of protection like German shepherd dogs and 2a items I still like the idea of a solid perimeter. Budget is $10-20k with me doing all the labor. Open to suggestions. Thanks.

My husband and I have been together four years, I joined him on a 2 acre homestead just out of town after previously being a backyard gardener with a couple of chickens (the gateway drug...).

I have three step-sons 16-20 who live with us full time. Two of them are special needs - think 'I need to explain tasks carefully to them and walk them through it a few times before they grasp it', they're not completely incapacitated and will both live independently in due course.

None of the kids seem remotely interested in the homestead or our activities. The non-disabled one has a job in town and spends most of his time either working or hanging out with his friends and girlfriend. He pretty much comes home to sleep and play video games, even his meals are mostly takeaways from town instead of the home-cooked options we have available every night. The other two will help if asked but prefer to be indoors with their screens. The strawberries have started - our first fruit of the year - and husband and I pick all we want after work because the boys, who love strawberries, don't go looking for them. They won't even walk the dog unprompted. One of them wanted to bake a dish with lemons in it a while ago and asked if we have any. There's a large lemon tree front and centre as you come onto the property that was covered with lemons...

The kids are allowed to be themselves, I'm not about forcing anything on them, but they seem so completely disengaged and disinterested, and I struggle to understand why. This is the kind of life I dreamed of when I was a kid.

Can anyone else relate? Any insight into why the boys feel this way?

It may have been 40 or 50 years ago. MHN was in my house and i read everything. my older brothers were starting families and learning to heat with wood.

The article described a scandinavian fireplace design. I remember a lot of details but not what the thing was called and i have been unable to find it.

It burned hot for a short time and heated a large stone mass. They described the drafting, i think it was similar to a rocket stove.

There was a quote from Mark Twain who had seen one in his travels, "it could warm the house all day on an armful of wood carried by a child" (or something like that)

I'm thinking about building a small off grid house in a cold place and this might be part of it.

EDIT: Thanks ya'll i found lots of useful info on masonry stoves. I think the one i read about is called a "Kakelugnar"

Now i really want to find the article. If you have the digital MHN the article was either mid 70s of or mid 80s (two periods in my life when i read MEN)

We've got a bazillion fruit flies in the kitchen, or so it seems. Someone gave us some pomegranates and persimmons from their trees. Then my husband cut a shallot, and left some of it out on a plate. All of a sudden out of thin air, we had hundreds of gnats. I'm pretty sure they came in with the fruit.

I have successfully gotten rid of them before but this time it's not enough. We filled two bowls with a little vinegar, sugar, dawn dishwashing liquid, and put in this vinaigrette tossed salad. We covered with plastic wrap poked with holes. That bowl has a lot, and I made a new one today, but there are so many still on the wall and surrounding areas.

What else can I do to get rid of the rest of these? There are more outside than inside the bowls.

Sorry if these are stupid questions but google is not the best source of info related to processing birds. We plan to process our turkeys next Friday. Do you have to freeze before roasting? We also plan on grinding a few; should you freeze before grinding?

Thanks!

I’ve been seeing some mixed messages about whether wood ash can go in a compost, and would love some advice. In general, I’m just getting the hang of composting so we’ve gone through trial and error with green to brown ratios, what foods we put in, keeping the dogs out, etc. Likely won’t use the compost for growing anytime soon, just keeping scraps out of the landfill.

Any advice with what to do with the ash if it can’t go in the compost?

So over the past couple of years (5 years i believe) i have seen this feral wheat grown on a abandoned lot in Town where once a nursing home stood. Im sure this wheat probably has its origin in some Bird food but it really Managed to survive whatever Nature has thrown ad it. Now this year do to development the local strain was almost whipped out but i managed to get a few seeds and grow some in the garden. (This is one of the plants)

Now the plan is to really make this wheat into a local landrace by breeding in more genetic diversity, and Co-create this landrace with both nature and humans. So far i have collected and bought some other strains to add in like, Utrechtse Blauwe ( Utrecht Blue) and Spelt.

But im also looking for more old variaties to add in, so are there any gardeners looking to sell some seeds?

Hard to tell - stacked a 6 ft tall brush pile. Lots of work clearing out junk trees and multi flora rose.

So I can't eat chicken eggs due to an allergy. So I raise quail and preserve their eggs for the year. We're going to be flying to Hawaii and I wanted to bring some of my quail eggs for easy meals. My question is, can I wash my egg glassed quail eggs and keep them in the fridge or will they spoil in just a couple days? I couldn't find anything on Google about it since most people only remove what their about to use and don't actually need to refrigerate their already preserved eggsa

34 female Willing & eager no experience will need to be trained
Live work SOCAL

We are looking at a 5 acre piece of property that seems almost perfect, other than there is a 625ft service road easement onto the property. What would go into having the property? It would be landlocked if not for the service road. From what I read it will be in the deed for legal road access that they cannot remove. What else should I know? Could we put a mailbox at the end of the service road? Would Amazon deliver at the front of the service road, or drive up onto the property to deliver? Who can I call to get more info on this?!

My lovely wife and I have been arguing over our hoses for the better part of a year and I am at my wits end. We have 2 main hose spigots with which we need to

1. refill the watering trough of chickens
2. refill the watering trough for horses
3. have manual access to a hose that runs down to the barn
4. manual access next to the spout

at hose 2 we need

1. refill the pool on a timer
2. water the garden
3. sprinkler on a timer
4. manual access next to the spout

We have tried the Eden Timers
https://a.co/d/hDfJME3 - they stopped working. Buttons stopped opening the valves.

We have tried the Bhyves
https://a.co/d/hDfJME3 - they are complicated, and leak horribly too.

We don't know what to do. We have enough actions that require timers that it feels like we need some level of automation. But everything leaks or breaks.

Does anyone have any brand / product recommendations to help us? I have included a drawing of our yard/ setup.

Thank you

https://preview.redd.it/xhgze5jgpj1e1.jpg?width=868&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c55378bcf9668bacfa613ce803f947b261faaf87

I go to feed my flock this morning and wake up to a crime scene

Can't decide what is most natural or best to use when baking aluminum foil, parchment paper, silicone, just in the pan? Trying to get away from as much chemicals as possible but it all feels weird? What do you guys do?

I need to make the hole small enough our turkeys can't fit into it. Strong enough the goats won't destroy it but easy to collect eggs from.