C Mouse

Sure have. I got mini sweet potatoes from a grocery and dropped them butt down in some cups of water. When they started to grow I looped some black twist ties around one and hung it on the side of a fish filter in my palludarium and let it grow aquaponically. They can't reproduce new tubers that way but it grew a good 3' vine (and a few shorter ones) that twined around my tank and lived for about 5 months and needed regular pruning. Eventually the tuber itself rotted away and the plant died but it certainly grew and I'm considering a repeat of the experiment because I liked the plant itself in the tank.

My understanding is the organic ones almost always do better, fyi, and what I bought were organic ones.

I own a Presto brand pressure cooker, which I bought as a canner, and it specifically came with the label Pressure Canner and Cooker. Presto is a super respectable brand in pressure canning so... I figure it's safe enough. And most resources say many pressure cookers can be used as canners, though sometimes only water bath.

https://www.gopresto.com/product/presto-23-quart-pressure-canner-01781

Oh! I wanna do this so I'm going to follow it! Our local coffee shops always have tons of grounds available for free.

I start a good 300-500 seedlings yearly. Enough to be respectable but not as many as some. All my seedlings at this point are planted in Natures Care organic potting mix. It's consistent, easy to find, holds water but drains well, good for bottom watering hundreds of plants in trays, etc. I just adjust water levels as needed. I always plant in bigger cells that they stay in until planting time.

I have a rabbit hutch that has plastic tarps for inclement weather that attach this way. I screwed some tiny eyehooks in and the grommets pop over the eyehooks and hold fast even in some pretty rough storms. Of course there's an awfully solid structure under them which helps.

Tom Worley wrote:I always love reading these threads, seeing what others are working on for the upcoming year.

My biggest task will setting out the black plastic and hopefully burning out some tomato blight that established last season.  The garden space should be big enough I can plant tomatoes elsewhere this season.  Last year I tried Eva Purple Ball tomato seeds I purchased from Southern Exposure and they were great, pretty disease resistant.  I'm trying a couple new (to me) varieties, a couple of which are also advertised as blight resistant.  

Blight has been a big problem for me too. The best solution I've found, unfortunately, has been switching to plum regal paste tomatoes, then Legend and Defiant for slicers. They're pricey hybrid seeds but they work really well.

My plans for 2022 are all about planning for success.

We have a local farmers market I'd like to sell at this year and the past few years have been a struggle in more ways than one. So I'm growing everything I think I can grow with as little maintenance as possible and very few new things. This is a get back on track year. "On track" always has some new things but not most.

So I'm excited to be looking forward to big harvests and lots and lots of extras!

The things we are doing "new" this year include trying to grow shallots for the first time, getting good at potato boxes, trying short season watermelons in a hoop house, and trying out a couple new hybrids (which we usually shy away from) to solve some under-preforming vegetables in our past.

Things we are growing for consistency this year; Canning tomatoes, radishes, pole beans, zucchini, our favorite winter squash, lettuce, hot peppers and plenty of herbs!

Matt McSpadden wrote:@Trace - I also think it is unlikely. Unfortunately she believes they need to be completely gone for 6months or a year to get out of their system. So simply having fewer isn't really an option right now. After the winter, the twins will be older and stronger, and we'll see where we are at.

@Mouse - How do you raise rabbits? I know Daniel Salatin uses cages and pasture. I've seen some people swear by cages only, and other swear that pasture all the time is the way to go.

This is REAAAAAAALLY a personal preference question. In my experience every step you take towards enrichment, natural living, etc. is one that's going to be moving away from efficiency.

Personally, I like to think I've struck a nice balance. I have;
Very large wire cages with solid floors and hay bedding
Individual cages except for growing litters, not colony living
Occasional tractoring, but not full time (like a few hours a week as a treat)
Primarily hay based diet supplemented with fresh plant matter and pellets (especially for litters)
Toys toys toys and enrichment whenever possible. This looks like TP tubes (sometimes filled with snacks), brown packing paper tied in knots, cardboard boxes to hide in, bought toys, rabbit safe tree branches, etc.
A medium-low breeding cycle. Each doe gets bred maybe 2-4 times a year as needed.

Rabbits. They're quiet, easily contained, won't take a lot of space away from other animals in the future, easy to give enrichment to and see results. They'll like eating a lot of your cut weeds and will eat grass hay if you make some.

Kinda lost track of dates to update this thread. Derp. But I got my first shot in March and it is now august. I can’t say I’ve experienced any side effects since the immediate post shot issues. Nobody I know has either and literally everyone I talk to regularly has gotten their vaccine so that’s a big number of people. Dozens?

This week was Lughnasadh, a weird holiday about bread, and some friends came over to eat bread and play lawn games. We’re all wondering if masking is gonna be reinstated for the sake of all the people that are unvaccinated. We still feel totally comfortable as a vaccinated group though.