Fresh as Daisies
This past Saturday I cleaned out the chicken coop. I follow the deep litter method here, as outlined in Harvey Ussery’s book The Small-Scale Poultry Flock. Once a year, usually in the fall, I clean out the coop. That happened last Saturday and now it’s fresh as daisies.
I actually enjoy cleaning out the coop because I know I’m harvesting loads of great manure for the garden. This year I put the bedding onto my asparagus bed. Once I spread this out I’ll add an additional layer of shredded leaves on top to help speed the decomposition of the shavings.
When I clean out the coop I always wear a respirator, these things come in handy for a wide variety of chores around the house. I love this one because it works for fumes and dust – it’s also comfortable to wear for long periods of time.
The chickens are always very curious when I’m cleaning out the coop, they like to come in to see what I’m doing. No doubt they’ll appreciate the nice clean bedding and I appreciate all the valuable garden fertilizer they provide in addition to eggs.
What’s your favorite garden fertilizer?
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Cultivate Simple 52: Budget and Savings
On this weeks episode we discuss coming up with a budget and living by it.
Budgets help keep us in line and help give us a baseline as to where we can spend our money. It’s like having a map of where you’re going. Without a budget, you’re spending blind and you might be spending more on things than you realize. It’s easy to lose track of where our money is going if you’re not keeping track.
GnuCash is free open-source personal finance software that can help you track how much money is coming in and going out. We started out with Microsoft Excel when we set up our first budget.
Books of the Week:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:41:01 — 70.1MB)
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Quote of the Day: Monty Don
“The first is that some people are unaware of the seasons or the natural world at all. The second is that modern life has so blunted the edges of the seasons for most people that hey just slide by in a smooth, well-blended continuum. For myself, I find the seasons’ teeth bite deep. And even winter with freak flowers and blossoms appearing out of season like Christmas cards arriving in May, there is no way out of this one. We are staring November in the face and winter lies unavoidably ahead.”
Monty Don (The Ivington Diaries)
Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Maine, sunny, warm with a high of around 65. I was outside from sun up to sun down cleaning out the chicken coop, mulching and checking a few things off the endless list. There is snow in the forecast for today, winter will be her before I know it.
When does winter usually arrive in your garden?
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Chicory
This spring I planted chicory in the garden, mostly for eating, but also for the bees. I like chicory because it blooms for a LONG season and the pollinators love it. Since it’s rather cold tolerant, it will keep blooming late into the fall after many things are long gone.
This lovely chicory has been blooming for about 2 months now and there’s no sign of it stopping. Not only are the local pollinators happy as clams that somethings still around for them, I’ll be able to save seed for next year’s garden. I call that a win/win!
Do you have anything still providing food for the pollinators in the garden?
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Friday Favorite: Clean Windows
I love a good clean window, really, really love it. Back in Ohio I cleaned the windows frequently. Here the windows on the house are a bit of a challenge to clean, storm windows really make it difficult, especially if they don’t come off easily. Luckily, the windows on the garage can be cleaned easily so I’m getting my window cleaning fix.
It’s amazing the difference it makes, not only from the inside but from the outside as well. These windows had loads of paint on them from the previous paint job who knows how many years ago. I used my razor scraper and went to town. They needed scrubbed 5-6 times to get the years of grime scrubbed off. Now they’re sparkling clean and I’m happy.
Windows are probably my favorite thing to have clean, as long as they sparkle I can deal with clutter elsewhere.
What’s your favorite part of the house to have clean as a whistle?
