Ontopic 2020 Eat Your Veggies - GARDEN THREAD

That and all their cats wouldn't get along. Also something eats the cats sometimes. And there are racoons.
My parents have cats and chickens and they get along.

But ya, we have a coyotes here. Those fuckers love chickens.

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Doing it the right way, or at least a much better way, with some 8/3 in the ground might be a couple hundred bucks in wire but you only gotta do it once.

I picked up a little sub panel and outlet to put on the pole in back so I'm not screwing with extension cords running all over the place.
I have outside outlets on my pole barn - I don't mind 50' pf cord occasionally. For anything out in the field I just take cordless tools or the deep dwell battery I keep parked on a cheap dolly with the 120 watt solar panel and the invertor. I find it easier and cheaper to build a great environment for my plants inside ONE TIME than fighting nature repeatedly.

@Valve1138 - what root crops need this extreme early start? Many of the common ones do much better started rather late so they can mature in the cool days of fall. Started too early they just bolt or become woody because most of them are bi-annuals.
 
I have outside outlets on my pole barn - I don't mind 50' pf cord occasionally. For anything out in the field I just take cordless tools or the deep dwell battery I keep parked on a cheap dolly with the 120 watt solar panel and the invertor. I find it easier and cheaper to build a great environment for my plants inside ONE TIME than fighting nature repeatedly.

@Valve1138 - what root crops need this extreme early start? Many of the common ones do much better started rather late so they can mature in the cool days of fall. Started too early they just bolt or become woody because most of them are bi-annuals.
concur on the root crops, in our state you want those to come mature in like late october so they can get sweet or the right texture as the weather cools
 
I have outside outlets on my pole barn - I don't mind 50' pf cord occasionally. For anything out in the field I just take cordless tools or the deep dwell battery I keep parked on a cheap dolly with the 120 watt solar panel and the invertor. I find it easier and cheaper to build a great environment for my plants inside ONE TIME than fighting nature repeatedly.

@Valve1138 - what root crops need this extreme early start? Many of the common ones do much better started rather late so they can mature in the cool days of fall. Started too early they just bolt or become woody because most of them are bi-annuals.

That's kind of a different situation, and the solar cart is pretty cool.
He's just talking about one run, to one location, one time.

Here my greenhouse heater is maybe 8 feet from the pole one way and the chickens heat lamp 8 feet the other way. Can make up a couple short cords just for them and not have cords running all across the yard.
And be nice to have a place to plug in back there. My good power tools are older corded ones, haven't had to replace them because they don't break. :) but when you got a mile of cord on the damn thing sometimes you gotta wait a second for the saw to spin up then cut, lol.
 
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Picked some some more mixed bird seed for treats/variety last week. That should last through the rest of the pelletized feed which is maybe half gone. Total feed cost so far $69.15.

Total eggs so far (30 days).....69, LOL. $12/dozen :D
Just a little north of one every other day per bird.

Projection ---------

Feed should last another month, making it $6 or a little less, basically price matching the free range organic stuff at the store.

Laying picks up in the spring might get down to $4.50 for what are $5-$6 eggs, recooping startup cost over time.


That's not a typo.
 
Calling it $4.81/dozen in the slow season. Should get below $4 as things pick up.

Could shave a fair bit off of that using cheaper commercial feed and cutting out variety treats and things but I figure I don't want to eat the same monsanto poverty crap every day they don't either.
 
Calling it $4.81/dozen in the slow season. Should get below $4 as things pick up.

Could shave a fair bit off of that using cheaper commercial feed and cutting out variety treats and things but I figure I don't want to eat the same monsanto poverty crap every day they don't either.
Yeah, not the most profitable endevour but ok. We're getting a solid 6/day now out of the 11, probably 7-8 are actually laying but their schedules are all different .

Eggs, not bad, not super money saver. Now . . .
Mushrooms are very profitable when compared to their store counterpart. $$35(?with s/h) for 5 lb. of spawn, $3 worth of wood stove pellets, $10 for pressure-heatable bags with a filter on them. That nets me 16-20 lbs. of mushrooms that would be a minimum of $10/lb(farmers market), more like $20+ at grocery/fancy store. You can create the environment for $200-250, depending on your ingenuity and "feel". Yes "feel" - a CO2 monitor is really handy but $200+. When my last one died I didn't replace it, experience/feel allows me to do just fine because I know how the levels are flowing without it. Observation and lots of notes.;)
 
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Yeah, not the most profitable endevour but ok. We're getting a solid 6/day now out of the 11, probably 7-8 are actually laying but their schedules are all different .

Eggs, not bad, not super money saver. Now . . .
Mushrooms are very profitable when compared to their store counterpart. $$35(?with s/h) for 5 lb. of spawn, $3 worth of wood stove pellets, $10 for pressure-heatable bags with a filter on them. That nets me 16-20 lbs. of mushrooms that would be a minimum of $10/lb(farmers market), more like $20+ at grocery/fancy store. You can create the environment for $200-250, depending on your ingenuity and "feel". Yes "feel" - a CO2 monitor is really handy but $200+. When my last one died I didn't replace it, experience/feel allows me to do just fine because I know how the levels are flowing without it. Observation and lots of notes.;)

That's pretty sweet on the shrooms.
And yeah, this egg price thing is mostly a curiosity. Ain't really about the price of eggs but nice to know I'm not really taking it in the shorts.
 
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That's pretty sweet on the shrooms.
And yeah, this egg price thing is mostly a curiosity. Ain't really about the price of eggs but nice to know I'm not really taking it in the shorts.

Yeah, the cost plus labor was what made me decide I didn't want to do the chicken thing. Luckily, backyard chickens are a kind of a thing in my neighborhood. Like to the point that it's a mascot.. So, there are plenty of sources that I can get our eggs from that's about the same as going to the grocery store.
 
Yeah, the cost plus labor was what made me decide I didn't want to do the chicken thing. Luckily, backyard chickens are a kind of a thing in my neighborhood. Like to the point that it's a mascot.. So, there are plenty of sources that I can get our eggs from that's about the same as going to the grocery store.

They're fairly common here too.
It can be a good bit of work getting set up but after that they're pretty low maintenance. Like as long as you got big enough feeders and waterers you could go on a week's vacation and they'll be fine.

Not for everyone. I get to scratch my farmer itch in town and have something producing food at home.
 
That's pretty sweet on the shrooms.
And yeah, this egg price thing is mostly a curiosity. Ain't really about the price of eggs but nice to know I'm not really taking it in the shorts.
I'll keep doing the eggs/chickens. I likre the eggs, I'll like the manure, the chickens are just funky enough for me to feel "countrified" about the whole thing.. My plan is to move their run in the spring, put a hoop hut there and bang out 12-20 huge ganja's on chicken shit and my normal compost practices. ah - then I am hoping to offer "free weed with each piece purchased" with my glass art as soon as life returns to some semblance of normal. I've checked with 2 attorneys, they say it's no problem, they just questioned how that was profitable. It is. For me. *Please pay in bitcoin or cash, T.Y."
 
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Yeah, not the most profitable endevour but ok. We're getting a solid 6/day now out of the 11, probably 7-8 are actually laying but their schedules are all different .

Eggs, not bad, not super money saver. Now . . .
Mushrooms are very profitable when compared to their store counterpart. $$35(?with s/h) for 5 lb. of spawn, $3 worth of wood stove pellets, $10 for pressure-heatable bags with a filter on them. That nets me 16-20 lbs. of mushrooms that would be a minimum of $10/lb(farmers market), more like $20+ at grocery/fancy store. You can create the environment for $200-250, depending on your ingenuity and "feel". Yes "feel" - a CO2 monitor is really handy but $200+. When my last one died I didn't replace it, experience/feel allows me to do just fine because I know how the levels are flowing without it. Observation and lots of notes.;)
I'm sure you'd rip it to shreds, but I've been seeing some neat looking ads on Insta for mushroom kits. If @APRIL would eat them, I'd like to try one. But she won't.
 
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I'm sure you'd rip it to shreds, but I've been seeing some neat looking ads on Insta for mushroom kits. If @APRIL would eat them, I'd like to try one. But she won't.
Some of the kits aren't bad, it's more a matter of people's houses have different humidity levels and some people don't follow directions well. Mushrooms are all about correct humidity and correct air levels. They are the polar opposite of plants - mushrooms eat oxygen, produce Co2. PLant's eat CO2, produce oxygen. Some grow shops sell mushroom spawn just for sitting in your plant grow. For the Co2. Co2 levels get too high, mushroom bags will just sit there and do nothing. Eventually, eat all the food and die.
Why won't she eat them?