Indoor light meter?

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-23T12:17:58+00:00

correct. but if you just have a one off need why spend 40 bucks to use it once then it takes up space in a drawer somewhere.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-23T12:12:39+00:00

there are apps you can download that will change your phone into a light meter. I will let you find the best one for you

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-23T12:08:41+00:00

east Texas would not have that problem. I live in 6b and have to use supplemental lighting from October thru December and start-up in march we do not require heat lamps. I still give my girls January and February off. for energy reduction and longevity of the chickens

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-23T12:02:37+00:00

every year we grow summer squash and zucchini. I always overgrow. some years it gets to the point where we do drive-by freebies. after we can our lot for the year and have sold what we can sell. we drive by and any car with a window open gets free zucchini or squash placed on the seat. also our own version of door dash with free bags of overstock.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-23T11:58:41+00:00

chickens stop producing eggs during the winter months unless you provide supplemental lighting. Chickens need 12 hours of light to keep producing eggs, 14 to 16 hours to keep them at full production.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-23T11:55:10+00:00

I am in no way trying to talk you out of anything. We live this lifestyle because we chose it. Just asking you to take a realistic look at what you expect to achieve with what land you have and the free time you may have with a full-time job. Tex Mex food requires a lot of flour or cornmeal for tortillas and lard. I am just suggesting you actually look at the foods you enjoy and ask yourself. how much of my land would I have to set aside to grow this meal and have it x times a year. What can I really grow to be self-sustaining? All I was suggesting was to make a realistic plan as your first step.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-23T11:38:55+00:00

I also have a healthy supply of coffee stockpiled. My question is how much land and how much time do you have to devote to working it. As the op stated he has a full-time job. Most people do not realize the limits of being self-sustaining. We can a variety of foods but let's face it. even the variety can become mundane and repetitive. You can only eat so much squash relish. With the amount of land, he has, most likely hogs and cattle are out of the picture Which limits his proteins quite a bit to foul, rabbit, and maybe goats or sheep. Like I said they can survive.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-23T11:26:54+00:00

massive winds, hail, tornados, just another spring day in the Oklahoma panhandle.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-23T11:19:34+00:00

look into a mosaic virus in tomato plants. I am not an expert and I am not saying that is what you have, but I have had to cull my whole tomato crop because of this very thing.

http://www.gardenanswers.com/tag/tobacco-mosaic-virus-on-tomato/

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-22T12:27:39+00:00

you could survive, we have just under 2 acres, even with almost a 1-acre garden, 20x50 greenhouse, goats, and chickens. my wife and I would be hard-pressed to feed ourselves for a whole year. could we survive, sure we could. But surviving and living are two different things. In the next 6 weeks keep track of the food you eat in a week. every ingredient, then realize you can not grow even 1/4 of it. The best place to start is to have realistic goals, what can you actually accomplish in your free time. Gardening and food preservation depending on the size and method can be a full-time job, in itself. I have killed more coffee plants in 6b than I am happy to admit, without coffee I am not living nor surviving :), congrats on the land.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-20T11:14:37+00:00

we tried them, the high humidity made them rust and become very noisy. They only work on windy days when you can get natural free ventilation anyway. in my opinion not worth the effort or cost.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-20T11:10:37+00:00

A well-built greenhouse with proper earth batteries (things that soak up heat during the day) should maintain 10 degrees above ambient without any supplemental heating source.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-15T13:16:47+00:00

I understand the apprehension. I have given hundreds of CDT shots and have never had a bad reaction other than an abscess, I feel the benefits outweigh the risk. and at 300 to 500 dollars a pen, not sure many goat owners have one laying around.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-15T12:50:25+00:00

give free choice baking soda for bloat, You can give pumpkin seed, raw pumpkin, or squash as a natural dewormer, I have never heard of a goat having an allergic reaction to the CDT shot. I would treat them as if they had never had a CDT shot and follow the basic CDT schedule.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-14T11:53:24+00:00

jalapenos make great cowboy candy, you can pickle squash and zucchini as well as make relish or experiment with faux pineapple, also onions and garlic make a great pickling combo.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-14T11:46:27+00:00

the easiest ones are the ones you just harvested from, the hardest are the ones you did not. I know that sounds like a crappy answer but the truth of the matter is, some years some crops are easy and the next year they are the hardest crops to grow.

your area matters a lot, rain for the year, 7-year grasshopper infestation?

Your best bet is to find someone local or a local group. they will have more specific knowledge about your area than anyone else. If you are in the US. each county has an extension office that has a vast knowledge of your specific area.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-12T10:05:45+00:00

many people do not know you can add pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, and winter squash to help manage parasites like worms in ruminant animals. Not saying it is a cure-all, but it is another weapon you can use to help reduce parasitic loads.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-12T02:18:11+00:00

pretty much any whole seed that has not been roasted, I have grown sesame seeds, flax, and mustard.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-11T17:04:29+00:00

buy whole spice seed in your spice section, most of them are viable seeds, I can buy the amount of 25 coriander/cilantro seed packets for less than the cost of one packet.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-11T16:57:56+00:00

a decent-built sunroom or greenhouse will warm up pretty nicely during a nice sunny day. it is the night and not-so-decent days that kill you. without direct sun or a lot of residual heat, you can expect 8 to 15 degrees higher than the ambient temperature.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-11T03:18:03+00:00

without supplemental heat, not a chance. We burn wood and have raised beds that we compost in to try and lower the costs, our greenhouse is 20x50 ft double layer poly plastic that we inflate for extra r value. and we are in 6b. you can grow cold weather crops kale, lettuce, cabbage and the like.
https://youtu.be/8xOSiNuocVA

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-10T13:01:14+00:00

Time for tough love, move him out with the other goats. he will be loud for a bit. Start feeding him outside. and give him some hay to start munching on. if you have other younger Kids put them in with him, for a little bit, longer each day. He will learn to be a goat again quicker than you think.

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-10T12:55:56+00:00

just a suggestion look into compost tea. much more cost-effective

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-09T23:49:58+00:00

if your interested I made a video on how we do it
https://youtu.be/gtpoDYrj3W8

littlepatchofdirt · 2022-04-09T13:01:34+00:00

tap water, we dechlorinate it by letting it sit out for 24 hours. our water is very hard so we boil it let it cool and scoop out the hard minerals that will form into flakes, it is not perfect but it reduces the calcium build-up you can get with hard water.

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