Krista Hoal

Looking for personal or anecdotal experience about whether or not honeyberries can do well in close vicinity (within 30 ft, in my case) of a black walnut. I've googled a bit and read some more historical accounts about HBs doing just fine near BW, but for me, this just does not seem to be the case. I have two plants that were planted a 2-3 years ago, they have returned each year but are just not thriving while other plants in the area are just fine. Is it the BW or operator error?

So, Lehman's sold out and went corporate it seems. There used to be another store geared for the Amish and non-electric living called Shetler's Wholesale. It looks like they tried to go online in 2020 and then quickly fell off and looking at Google Maps, the building they used to be in (630 High Street) is being sold. Has anyone done any digging to see if they are still around or is there another Lehman's/Shetler's out there setup for mail order?

It had been quite a while since we had oiled our utensils and the board so they were definitely in need of it. We used coconut oil instead of walnut oil because that is what we had on hand currently.

Yes! That is so exciting! You mention you're in zone 6b, can I ask where? What's your soil Ph like there? Did you have to acidify your soil at all, other than the pine branches? I'd love to grow blueberries but where I am, I think I'd constantly be babying the soil.

Hey ya'll, I am trying to revive an area that used to be an old horse dry lot and repurpose for sheep and goats. The ground in this area, which is about 1.5 acres is very hard and compacted and mostly dock, dandelion, creeping Charlie and a few others you'd expect to see in those soil conditions. There are small patches of grass beginning to show but the growth has been very slow and certainly not enough to sustain animals. I have been attempting the chop and drop method the last few years to encourage more growth but it just doesn't seem to be moving the needle much.

My question is: As I currently have both a dairy cow and a couple goats in milk, will spraying this area with a diluted milk solution help significantly or is it really not that effective? (The idea came from the Keeping a Family Milk Cow book, Grohman, where she talks about spraying the cows on pasture with diluted milk as fertilizer. Are there success stories regarding this? Thanks.

Lucas Limbach wrote:I raise dairy goats in Washington state. I’m fairly new at it, but… my buddy who does it commercially and who I got my animals from often gets a lot of male kids. He waits until a given doe shows signs of being ready to breed, as in she’s ovulating, and bring the does to the buck pen one by one. So they are bred very close to ovulation. The two does I got from him last year were bred this way and they had all males babies.
This year I had three does bred here. I borrowed a buck and left him in with my does for six weeks. This way he was able to mate with the does earlier in their cycle, before ovulation. I have heard that male-producing sperm are faster and die sooner. With early insemination, the male sperm die off before ovulation and the female sperm are left to meet the egg when it is ready. With insemination right at or closer to ovulation, the male sperm arrive at the egg faster.

That's an interesting observation, will have to keep that one in mind. We also have a couple dairy cows and have heard some folks swear by flushing the cow with increased ACV prior to ovulating to better ensure heifer calf. Don't have any direct experience with that one just yet to say if it works or not.

Sweep the floor for Nest Sand badge BB

Ha! I feel you! We have five kids on the ground at the moment and only one doeling. Plus, we don't really eat goat... yet, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all these boys. I'd be interested to know what factors influence gender outcomes, outside of the buck.

If you're doing open flame or campfire cooking, have you considered a Santa Maria grill? You'd have quite a bit of control over heat levels, it could take the place of a stovetop or oven - depending on what's cooking!

We have had chickens for several years but decided to add ducks and turkeys this year. For ducks, we chose a breed called Duclair (Murray McMurray) and while they seem to be a smaller breed, they grew quickly - you could have a 3-4 lb table bird in 2-3 months. They are calm, friendly (not aggressive), forage well and not at all flighty. They are said to be decent layers, though we didn't get to see that before fall came and laying slowed. Just thought I'd throw out another option to look at.