Hullo there

I found you guys through the recent MENews article and thought "I wanna do that".  There's plenty on your BB list that I never want to touch, and some things that I was doing today (frying eggs, cooking fudge, animal husbandry) that I suppose I should have been photographing!

I live on an extra-deep lot in an old city neighborhood, and it's a constant battle in my heart about keeping the shade trees or trimming them out to expand the garden beds.  This summer's drought has me extremely frustrated, but usually I can use the rain barrels to water the garden all summer long.  Right now we're barely hanging onto the herbs and tomatoes.

I'm currently on a quest for dandelions (out of season ATM) and jewelweed (not enough rain) if anyone else is in mid-MO and would let me raid their flowers.

I spent today mucking part of the bunny barn and burning fur off empty cages.  We have Silver Fox Rabbits and they shed like crazy in the summer, so we're constantly rotating and cleaning and rotating.  I miss having chickens, but the local fox is more wily than my husband is meticulous.

Cheers!  Renee

Welcome to Permies! Yay you've got so much going on--it will be great to hear about your adventures. I'll bet you will find solutions here to a bunch of your puzzles, including the fox ones. Have fun and enjoy the never-ending rabbit hole of info here!

Hi, Renee! I'm also in Central MO. Welcome to permies! I know it's been too dry here, for them. They all appeared, bloomed, seeded, and died out,  all in about a 2 - 3week span, here. Up in the Great Lakes area, they were an all summer thing. I'm still trying to find jewelweed, too.

We have coyotes by the dozens, in our little neighborhood, so the foxes steer clear, but the raccoons & oppossums aren't afraid of them. None of those have done our chickens a much damage as the (former) neighbor's dogs,  the black snakes, & the owls, though.

I have had two dandelions flower this summer and am HOPING that the rain we just got will pop out a few more.  There's a local shop I want to make dandelion soap for, and while the greens are tasty, the flower petals are what I seek.  

Growing up we never had trouble with aerial predators, but it seems like more and more people are talking about hawks and eagles getting their chickens!  City raccoons are a problem, although the opossums seem too lazy, and this dern fox and coyote population keeps increasing!

I'm keeping my head up though!  Rabbit & dumpling stew for dinner and an embroidery project waiting for me to focus :)