C West

when I approach questions like this for my sheep & chicken flocks I like to look at the **actual numbers** to make a decision.

I use spreadsheets (i.e. google sheets) to calculate the amount of feed per animal per day extended out by season and by year.  I add an area with pricing so I can update with current feed prices and what $$ I can get for selling lambs.  End result shows me projected feed costs for a year and how many lambs sales will cover those feed costs.  

Without looking at the numbers you'll just be speculating.

I would suspect the cost of having a feed bin/silo built/installed will take a number of years to pay for itself in feed cost savings.  After 1 year with pigs is it realistic to commit to the long haul?

There is a winery nearby me that imports fruit juices in 55gal steel drums, they are perfectly clean as the juice in is plastic bladder bags inside the steel.  They sell these drums for a good price, that's what I store my feed in. I consider them infinitely re-usable or re-sellable if/when my system changes.   We still have to hand carry the feed sacks into the drums.  But hey - this is Permies - physical labor is typically part of the equation.

I'm with Gary,

have never seen any reports or proof of liver damage in animals eating comfrey

My sheep eat it in varying amounts depending on what else they have access to.  In winter when they are on mostly hay they get very excited for some dried comfrey.

Homer area gardener here.  I don't know anyone overwintering annual vegetables outside in ground except garlic, and of course perennials.

The Homer Garden Club has published a book, I believe its only available directly from them, and there is a copy at the Homer Library.  Also checkout Brenda Adams book  "There's a Moose in My Garden,"  author is a Homer area gardener also.

For the record, my garden is all in-ground outside, no greenhouse, no row covers etc at 1,000ft and it produces a ton of annuals, and perennials.  So as much as everyone LOVES PLASTIC, it is not actually required to grow food.  Fences however, are required, unless the goal is to grow treats for the animals.

Honestly, with the weather we've been having I wouldn't plant anything now except garlic.  What I would do now is get a soil test and amend you soil accordingly so it will be ready for next growing season - if you do only one amendment it should be Lime.  Contact your NRCS about how to do this, its very simple and you can request organic amendment recommendations.

Where are you on the Peninsula?

Tell your friends, tell your coworkers, tell your neighbors, tell tourists.

Word of mouth is still very valuable.

People come into my store everyday because someone told them about it.

people love to tell me that no-one uses craigslist anymore...
Yet somehow I sell sheep, chickens, ducks, cars etc on craigslist.

facebook is just too toxic.

Craigslist takes some time (and a well drafted ad) and you need a way to weed out time-wasters without scaring away real buyers - I get a phone number and make a brief friendly call right away.

Each year it gets a little easier as more people in my area know I'm the person to contact about sheep.  Folks refer buyers to me, and when I run out of lambs I refer buyers to other sheep people I know.  I always have the animals for sale ready in a separate pen easy to load when the buyer arrives.

I keep a list (google sheets) of people who are interested in buying animals for meat.  This comes from casual conversation when I'm out and about "O, you raise sheep? What do you do with them? wool?"  "Wool, live keeper lambs, I sell whole animals for meat."  "I'd love some lamb meat."  "I can put you on my call list, I usually have them in the Fall for $400-$450 each"

my final tip - something I've seen friends really struggle with is TIMING.  Setup your flock decisions when you make your breeding plans.  If you are clear on your own plan then you will know who's for sale before its time to sell them.  My friend wavers and wont commit to how many goats to keep because she's attached to them all, by the time she's realized she's not going to keep them all its late summer and **the serious buyers have already found their new goats for the year**.  In comparison I know how many I want to breed, how many I want to grow as replacement breeders and how many rams I want, so when lambing concludes I can pretty quickly decide who to keep and who to sell, I list them before they're even weaned and settle my keeper sales late spring early summer.  

In my unsubstantiated opinion Facebook is too convenient for too many people, as a net its brings in too much by-catch, craigslist is the slow and steady method to bring in the buyer you actually want.

Corey, did you end up getting a charger?  If so, do tell what you chose.

Just this week I received back an adult laying hen that I'd sold as 1 in a batch of chicks last spring.  The family was "free ranging" them and a keeping a group of meat chickens in fishing net enclosure and a black bear got into the meat birds last fall.  Then like clockwork the bear returned this spring to eat the laying hens.  I am happy to have this hen back in my flock where it's defended somewhat from bears.  But I now am having deep wonderings about the ethics of hatching chicks to sell to people who play the fantasy music in their heads too loud and refuse to believe thier free ranging chickens are a bear buffet.  

Now that black bear has a good reason to target chicken coops (theirs was less than secure, cough::chicken wire::cough).

Thelka,  I also wonder if there's some trick to cleaning out the barn.  If someone invented a method to save our back (other than heavy equipment) I'd buy that booklet.

I'm in Alaska where my critters all live in the barn on deep litter Nov-Apr/May.

My poultry pens are a different story than my sheep pens.  The sheep litter is way more densely compacted after months of living on top of it.  I haven't tried turning my chickens into my sheep pen for cleanup, I imagine they wouldn't work all the way 2ft down to soil...

We remove all the compacted manure/hay mixture each summer manually with turning forks (pitchfork tines are too fine) and make a glorious compost pile, often adding lots more carbon as we build the pile because its very concentrated stuff.   I do not recommend folks put the winter manure-filled bedding directly into garden beds that will produce food in the next 4-6 months, this is a major pathogen no-no, either age the manure for a safe amount of time, make an aerobic compost heap with it, or add it directly to garden beds that will be growing non-food (ornamental or cover crops).

As far as parasites, holistic animal care teacher us that if you are seeing parasite problems in your animals you should think VERY seriously about their nutrition, stress and genetics (cull until your group is parasite resistant), or consider assisting them with plant medicine (look into Barberry root powder to top their feed during bad times).  A healthy, hardy animal should be able to resist some amount of parasite pressure with its own immune system.  Yes rotating housing will also tip the parasite balance.  

Anyone try a BCS attachment to get the manure out... snow blower???

Alaska gardener here - potato paradise.

Disease can come into your garden on potatoes  we buy certified seed potato from a local farm, I highly recommend supporting any local organic certified seed potato farms near you.  The cost vs value of what we produce makes it worth every penny!

Every year when we harvest and sort for the root cellar we reserve the little ones to be next year's seed potatoes.  Thus we rarely buy new seed potato and never waste time cutting up potatoes before planting, we just leave the small ones whole (sprouts pointing up toward the sun).

Remember to rotate beds!!! DO NOT PLANT IN THE SAME PLACE AS PRIOR 3 YEARS.
Folks who ask me for solutions to their gardening issues (especially pest & disease) can almost never answer "yes" when I ask if they're rotating beds.  A roundabout way to say - failure to rotate beds creates many problems.

When harvesting potatoes remove all the plant scraps from your garden - DO NOT TILL IN POTATO FOLIAGE.  Leave crop residue in the field or worse - tilling it in is a great way to get scab or other potato problems in your soil.  Instead put all that greenery into your compost pile and let it completely decompose before you even think about adding it back into your garden.

Those are the *maybe not totally obvious* issues that I see come up with growing potatoes.

on humans and animals I use cottonwood bud tincture on wounds.  The tree species is Populus balsamifera where I am, I don't know what the species is in your area but likely there is a Cottonwood tree with resinous healing buds.  

Collect Cottonwood buds in late winter before they open
Fill a glass jar about half way with buds
Cover with good quality high proof alcohol (Organic Vodka is what I get in my area) liquid level most of way to top of jar

Screw lid on jar
shake
wait
shake
wait
... 1 month

You have homemade liquid bandaid! a few drops of this over a wound dries into a sticky protective coating that is somewhat pain relieving, antiseptic and smells fantastic.  

We especially use this when we know the wound will likely get icky (outdoor working human hands, sheep hooves, etc).

I second the nurse who posted not to use antibiotic ointment or hydrogen peroxide.  When I was in university those studies really made an impression on me, that those two wound care myths are both very pervasive and so inaccurate.  

I agree with Skandi on the open air muck heap(s) being turned a few times and resulting in good finished compost, which could really be a product to sell to local farmers who can use it.  I worked on a 20ish goat dairy that did this, they put the compost in their veggie garden with excellent results and also established relationships with locals who would come take it because it was properly finished compost, not just raw manure.  They turned the piles with a tractor.