Dennis Barrow

Last year I mowed a ten foot swath around my gardens.   Didn't stop the hoppers.  This year I mowed 100 foot swath.  Really has helped keep them down,  Not completely but a noticeable difference from last year.  It really helps keeping the grass and weeds cut down.
Last year I found the hoppers really liked my potato leaves, had to put row covers over them.
And of course I can sit all day watching my chickens chase them around!

Watching your property for awhile is the best advice I have seen here.  It could save you time and money:::::::::

Bought my current property in 2019, moved there that Sept.  (Undeveloped land).  Lived in used 5th wheel for 1 1/2 years while building my home.
I planted some spinach and lettuce that fall by the 5th wheel.  Had to have something growing!
Next year I expanded the little garden to about 50 square feet, tomatoes, peas, etc.  Couldn't be to big because I was building my home, not much time for garden and I was keeping an eye on the land for a good location.
Had an excavator dig out a 20' X 30' area for a garden site in 2020.  Finished the home that summer and moved in.  Built several raised beds that winter.
Moved chicken coop that fall and fenced off the old area for another garden spot.  2021 planted there but no raised beds.  Good soil after the chickens.
Had to purchase a dump truck load of good soil for the other garden with raised beds.
Also several raised beds by the house.
2022 I had basically 3 garden locations going, all different micro climates.
The trees I had to remove for building were put down on a lower area below the home.  So in 2023 I cut what I could for firewood and moved the rest  a hundred feet from there and had a great bonfire!
Then I fenced the area, 50' X 100'.  I tried to build the fence out of multiple branches, willow, pines, looked good for a month or so, kept the deer out, then a big wind storm, blew down a bunch of the fence, deer saw an opportunity and had a feast.
2024 I put in 6' wire fence around the garden.  2/3 of the garden has great soil about a foot deep.  (I only check a couple spots for soil, should have checked more spots).
Fall 2025 a doe found she could jump the 6' fence, fortunately I had everything harvested but a couple pumpkins.  Added some tall poles to fence posts and strung flags between them so fence seems 8' tall, deer haven't tried to jump it yet.

I now have 4 garden spots, each a bit different micro climate.  Why?  I was in a hurry each year to get going!
Takes me a couple hours to water, but I am retired and have the time and enjoy it.

I have created "crater gardens" on a smaller scale.  4 to 5 feet across in one of my garden area's.
I built up the edges so cold air would travel around it instead of dropping into it, (when it got cold at night).  I noticed right away that the soil stayed damper than the surrounding area that would dry out daily with the temps in the 90's and the wind.  The tomato plants I grew there didn't need watering nearly as much as the others.

My grandmother always had hollyhocks growing.  Some were 10' or more.
The last couple places I lived I couldn't get them to grow.
I started some here, (west of Helena MT), a couple years ago.
They have started to grow like crazy!  Some are 8' and still going up!!

I used to wonder why farms always had multiple smaller sheds scattered around them.  I understand now!
As you acquire items you need a place to store them.  Budgets determine what you will construct.
I started with temporary Harbor Freight car shelters, 10 x 10.  Cheap.  Not that good with the wind I sometimes get though.
Bolted wood to the metal frame, added metal roof and some siding.  There is a shelter for tools and implements.  Needed another one, same.  I now have 2 shelters, sheds.  One was converted to a firewood shed.  I put 2 frames together for a 10 x 20 foot building, roof and walls an some windows that is now my chicken coop.
Found an 8 X 16 shed someone wanted gone.  It resides as a tool and small equipment shed. It has stored motorcycles, mowers and various items over the years, now has lumber and several dozen containers of nails, screws fasteners and other things like that on a few shelves.
I already had an 8 X 40 foot container I used for storage when we built our home.  Still holds a lot, (almost full of stuff).  
I built a lean-to against part of one wall.  I put riding mower and push mower, powered post hole digger, large tool chest and lots of hand tools on the walls, almost forgot, many bales of straw.
Now I am contemplating another shed next to a lower garden area for storage of tools and various implements used there.
I also hate tarps, but they are a necessity here.  Temporary covers until things can be properly stored.  I keep lots of various sizes on hand for "just in case" times.  (I watch the HF sales for the cheap tarps.  They do for most of the things I determine are "tarp worthy".

Did you hear about the new rule in Hawaii?
Your not aloud to laugh loud anymore.
You have to keep it at aloha.

Mark Reed wrote:

I love huckleberries but have only eaten them one time during a camp trip in the Teton Mountains. We shared a patch for a brief time with a grizzly bear. The bear looked as us, we looked at it and we all went back to eating huckleberries.

My favorite wild fruit where I live are wild black cherries, mulberries and persimmons that have hung onto the tree into winter and basically dehydrated or freeze dried.

I take a radio with me and play it fairly loud to let the bears, (grizzly and black), know I am here, and please leave me alone.
Over the years I still have been asked, (maybe told is a better way to say it)  to leave good huckleberry patches.  I comply with their request.
Used to just carry a side arm, but now have that and bear spray.
My favorite is huckleberry jam.  That an huck's on pancakes.
I wonder if there is any in freezer I overlooked?

Living here in the mountains of Montana, my favorite wild fruit to harvest and eat is, by far,

HUCKLEBERRIES !

With the wife and I both retired and are on fixed incomes, I figured credit score was not a big deal.  In the US it still is. as it effects insurance rates.

We have no debt.  We do travel at least once a year, been to Antigua, US Virgin Islands, (St Croix, one of our sons lived there for awhile), Costa Rica, Mexico and of course Hawaii.  (Had a credit card cancelled while in Hawaii a year and a half ago.  The company said it looked like suspicious travel. lol).
I think Belize in next on our agenda.  ------------- not sure why I threw in this last bit ----------------

Our score is still high, but down a bit from when we were working and had debt.

What we do is get a new credit card every other year.  We currently have 3 cards.  Costco, Airlines and just one other for backup.  We use them at least once a year or more, but pay them off each month.

I think using the cards helps keep the score up there, maybe, maybe not.

Timothy Norton wrote:I'm thinking of purchasing a scraper/chopper tool with the intent of being able to process down some woodier material by hand and to work the compost pile itself.

Anyone have any experience with one?

I purchased an inexpensive chipper from Harbor Freight a couple years ago.  Main idea was to chip the corn stalks for mulch and compost.  (I only have a few dozen corn stalks each year).
It works great for that.   I saved a pile for mulch and found it had already started to compost down by the time I wanted to use it for mulch.

I always am on the lookout for a workable used and very cheap in price blender for the kitchen scraps for the garden.   Our chickens get the majority of them, but some go to the garden.   The stuff I work into the garden I chop up fine so the worms don't have to work to hard.  lol.

About 10 years ago I did a small experiment with composting.   I chopped up some of the kitchen waste fine and put it in one corner of my compost pile, the rest went into the rest of the pile.  Just cold composting, but the chopped turned into great soil over the summer, while the other took until the next summer.   I was pleased with the results but the work of chopping all the time was the down side.  Hence the eye out for a decent blender.