Vanessa Alarcon

it was AMAZING to just do it alongside someone who knew how.  
That's what I'm talking about!

I would love to visit a place with my family that would get us closer to nature (in a way, that's what i've been trying to achieve in my own home). to that end, here's what i think of when i imagine my fantasy island rural b&b:

- Baby animals are always a win. baby chicks, baby ducks, baby goats..
- Having an experience of milking and drinking fresh milk for the first time. Most city dwellers don't know what they are missing.
- picking fruits or veggies and then using them in a cooking class
- maybe having a small aquaponics setup so visitors can learn about it?
- i don't know if this is feasible but having a jam making session and teaching how to pressure can and let the guest take one home?
- compost, different types and showing how, when its done right, it doesn't smell, attract vermin.
- making pottery

the last pic reminds me of Snape protecting Harry, Hermoine and Ron 😍😁

Eric Hanson wrote:Not certain why it took me so long to find this thread, but my daughter has recently taken to this.  She has a rabbit and she is particular about what she feeds him.  She even has a small raised bed where she grows some of the food he needs.  Good for her!

But her garden is really only useful during late spring and early summer, the rest of the time she needs to buy in produce.  Recently she has started saving the base portion of kale and Romain Lettuce.  She places them in a small container of water and even adds in a few rabbit pellets in the water and sure enough, the plants grow.  She is almost at the point where she can feed the rabbit from regrown produce.

Great thread!

Eric

I have the same situation at home. 2 fatty buns that love to act like they are starving all the time. May I recommend she grow collard greens and sweet potatoes for the greens in the summer? They do well in the heat and my buns love it plus they don't sequester calcium like kale. You can even start sweet potato slips from store bought sweet potatoes.

Here’s what I’m trying now and what I’ve tried before:

Malabar spinach
Longevity spinach
Collard greens (they look rough but they made it the ENTIRE year. As long as they get their water they’ll survive)
Seminole tomato
Seminole squash
Sweet potato
Mediterranean herbs as long as they get some shade
Sunchokes (they are in a shady area. Seem happy)

I have multiple other tomatoes, peppers, kale and I’m experimenting with 3 sisters on 3 45 gallon tree nursery pots, so we’ll see. The temp is starting to climb and once the heat hits and the monsoons start, we’ll see what survives.

As far as fruit trees/plants:
Chaya
Collard tree
Passion fruit
Barbados cherry
Strawberry tree
Strawberry guava
Star fruit
Mango
Soursop
Avocado
Turkey fig

Very interesting! i hope to do something like this in the future. i wonder, do you plan to have a food forest and some animals (chickens, ducks, rabbits?). if you reserve an area for composting (specially the chicken/duck bedding; that even when using deep litter, you may need to compost)  then the diverted urine could be piped to go into composing pile; thus adding nitrogen and speeding up the composting process. As far as the humanure, you may want to look into bokasi? i'm learning about it myself.

AARRRGGHHH....THE..CUTE..NESS..TOO..MUCH!...CAN'T...TAKE...IT!...i'm ded...send help 😍

João Brazão wrote: What kind of organic matter besides wood chips and manure is usually sold in large quantities?

Others have already addressed the multiple source of free or near free organic manner for composting, so i'll talk about the "for sale" stuff. For the "most bang for your buck" I would go with pelletized euine bedding for browns and alfalfa meal or alfalfa pellets for greens.🤷‍♀️

bob day wrote:
The purpose of cloth masks is not to prevent you getting covid, it is to prevent you spreading it unknowingly.

surgical masks protect the patient from the surgeon, the n95 mask with an air tight seal protects you from the environment.

This. 👏👏👏👏👏👏

In my area, Walmart grocery is delivering Miracle-Grow potting mix. As far as seed starting mix, i always use expanded coconut coir.