I'm getting excited about spring time!

[Simon Baker]

I know I'm going to do some in containers (tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, etc...) and some in the ground (corn, sunflowers, blueberries, etc...). I just don't know about the others yet. I'm reading up on it. I think it's too late to start bales of straw for this year. But, I can get the pots to grow the others fairly cheap.

I Have Had Exceedingly High Hopes Before, Speaking Of The Garden. It Never Turns Out As Imagined, Sometimes Better ! Sometimes, Not So Much, Praise God For GREEN THUMBS !

 

[ebenz47037]

I haven't ordered my blueberries yet because we had another cold snap. I guess I'll do it around the fifteenth. But, I found someone who sells herd-shares of her dairy. :banana: I've been looking for someone who did that because I love fresh milk and butter. I called her because she advertised that she had some milk cows for sale. I wanted to ask her some questions about them and mentioned that I wasn't able to find anyone who sold herd-shares (In Indiana, it's illegal to sell raw milk and dairy products. But, you can sell shares of your herd and people can do what they want with their own milk.). She told me that she sells herd-shares. Basically, I'll be paying $50 a month to feed my own cow. This lady does the milking and makes butter and ice cream. I will get four gallons of milk, two pounds of butter, and one gallon for ice cream a month from her. That's close to what I'd pay in the store for the same stuff. Plus, I found a local (one mile from me) farmer who sells brown eggs for $2 a dozen. Right now, medium white eggs are $2.47 a dozen in the store. The farmer's wife calls what I bought this week medium. But, they're twice the size of the ones the store calls jumbo. I told her that I'd buy about a dozen a week until the fall. Then, I'll buy five to six dozen a month for my baking.

A guy's coming out Monday to tell me how much he'll charge me to plow my garden spot. He'll probably plow it then too since Monday's supposed to be the only day next week that it doesn't rain.

 

[zoo22]

I haven't ordered my blueberries yet because we had another cold snap. I guess I'll do it around the fifteenth. But, I found someone who sells herd-shares of her dairy. :banana: I've been looking for someone who did that because I love fresh milk and butter. I called her because she advertised that she had some milk cows for sale. I wanted to ask her some questions about them and mentioned that I wasn't able to find anyone who sold herd-shares (In Indiana, it's illegal to sell raw milk and dairy products. But, you can sell shares of your herd and people can do what they want with their own milk.). She told me that she sells herd-shares. Basically, I'll be paying $50 a month to feed my own cow. This lady does the milking and makes butter and ice cream. I will get four gallons of milk, two pounds of butter, and one gallon for ice cream a month from her. That's close to what I'd pay in the store for the same stuff. Plus, I found a local (one mile from me) farmer who sells brown eggs for $2 a dozen. Right now, medium white eggs are $2.47 a dozen in the store. The farmer's wife calls what I bought this week medium. But, they're twice the size of the ones the store calls jumbo. I told her that I'd buy about a dozen a week until the fall. Then, I'll buy five to six dozen a month for my baking.

A guy's coming out Monday to tell me how much he'll charge me to plow my garden spot. He'll probably plow it then too since Monday's supposed to be the only day next week that it doesn't rain.

There's actually no real difference between brown and white eggs besides the color. What matters is the chickens, how they're raised & fed, their age, and of course how fresh the eggs are.

That brown eggs are better is a complete marketing fabrication... The hens that lay brown eggs are a breed of chicken that's larger than other chickens. Because they're larger, they eat more. Because they eat more, they cost more to feed. So their brown eggs are more expensive.

The eggs I get at the farmer's market now usually come in mixed colors... Brown, white, speckled. Sometimes sort of a green-hued shell.

You're lucky that you have a local place selling fresh eggs cheaper than supermarket eggs. Here, it's much more expensive to buy fresh local eggs. Now I pay more, and eat less eggs. But like with fresh local meat, the eggs are much more delicious, much healthier. And the chickens have a nice time running around outside, pecking at things, scratching the dirt and whatnot.

 

[elohiym]

I know I'm going to do some in containers (tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, etc...) and some in the ground (corn, sunflowers, blueberries, etc...). I just don't know about the others yet. I'm reading up on it. I think it's too late to start bales of straw for this year. But, I can get the pots to grow the others fairly cheap.

I experimented with hay bales last year. Eh. I've also done the lasagne garden method. That worked out nice. What I'm doing now is the square foot gardening method in several hundred feet of raised beds. Some are built with wooden sides and hoops that I can cover enabling me to grow all winter in zone 7b. I highly recommend coming up with a system where you can grow all year and get in the habit of doing that. You'll love having fresh lettuce from your garden throughout the winter, if you do it right.

 

[ebenz47037]

There's actually no real difference between brown and white eggs besides the color. What matters is the chickens, how they're raised & fed, their age, and of course how fresh the eggs are.

That brown eggs are better is a complete marketing fabrication... The hens that lay brown eggs are a breed of chicken that's larger than other chickens. Because they're larger, they eat more. Because they eat more, they cost more to feed. So their brown eggs are more expensive.

I know all that. I used to raise Rhode Island reds. What I liked about those eggs is that more often than not I would get double-yolkers. The yolk just happens to be my favorite part of the egg. I raised my hens on cracked corn that I bought from my neighbor.

You're lucky that you have a local place selling fresh eggs cheaper than supermarket eggs. Here, it's much more expensive to buy fresh local eggs. Now I pay more, and eat less eggs. But like with fresh local meat, the eggs are much more delicious, much healthier. And the chickens have a nice time running around outside, pecking at things, scratching the dirt and whatnot.

I was surprised that the fresh eggs were cheaper than the store. When I told the farmer's wife, she was surprised too. She said that they've charged $2 a dozen for about five years now. When they started, eggs would go for $.49 a dozen on sale at the store.

Right now, meat at the grocery store is running the same price or slightly more than my local butcher. So, I decided to just buy all my meat from him because I know the farmers he gets his meat from. Most of the rest of my shopping is done at a somewhat local (12 miles away) Amish store.

 

[ebenz47037]

I experimented with hay bales last year. Eh. I've also done the lasagne garden method. That worked out nice. What I'm doing now is the square foot gardening method in several hundred feet of raised beds. Some are built with wooden sides and hoops that I can cover enabling me to grow all winter in zone 7b. I highly recommend coming up with a system where you can grow all year and get in the habit of doing that. You'll love having fresh lettuce from your garden throughout the winter, if you do it right.

I'm wanting to build a greenhouse so that I can grow some fruit trees that do well in central California. I don't think that they could handle Indiana winters.

 

[zoo22]

I know all that. I used to raise Rhode Island reds. What I liked about those eggs is that more often than not I would get double-yolkers. The yolk just happens to be my favorite part of the egg. I raised my hens on cracked corn that I bought from my neighbor.

I see. I should have known.

When my mom was young she had a job on a farm holding eggs up to a light to look for double yolks, which they set aside for restaurants.

I've heard that story a lot. At the very least, once for every time we cracked open an egg with a double yolk when I was a kid growing up lain:

I was surprised that the fresh eggs were cheaper than the store. When I told the farmer's wife, she was surprised too. She said that they've charged $2 a dozen for about five years now. When they started, eggs would go for $.49 a dozen on sale at the store.

Well, I hope if you inspired her to raisie prices, she still cuts you a deal.

Right now, meat at the grocery store is running the same price or slightly more than my local butcher. So, I decided to just buy all my meat from him because I know the farmers he gets his meat from. Most of the rest of my shopping is done at a somewhat local (12 miles away) Amish store.

That's good. Where I am, besides maybe seasonal vegetables and a few things here & there, there's no price comparison between fresh/local and the supermarket. Big difference.

 

[ebenz47037]

I see. I should have known.

When my mom was young she had a job on a farm holding eggs up to a light to look for double yolks, which they set aside for restaurants.

I've heard that story a lot. At the very least, once for every time we cracked open an egg with a double yolk when I was a kid growing up lain:

I grew up in central California (as I'm sure you've seen me say many times, on TOL). Basically, we had three choices for summer jobs: the dairies, mucking out barns; Gallo vineyards, picking grapes; or Nulaid egg store, candling eggs that came from the farms. Since I liked animals, I chose the dairies.

Well, I hope if you inspired her to raisie prices, she still cuts you a deal.

I don't think she'll raise her prices. She told me that most of her customers are older people, on budgets. What surprised me is that she said I could come over, go into her garage (if she wasn't home), get eggs out of her fridge, and leave the money in her mailbox. That's trusting, even for out here.

That's good. Where I am, besides maybe seasonal vegetables and a few things here & there, there's no price comparison between fresh/local and the supermarket. Big difference.

Last year was the first time in a really long time that I actually noticed the flavor difference between farm-fresh and store-bought because I've pretty much refused to eat store-bought on a lot of things. I don't do fast food often anymore because I found three local restaurants with reasonable prices that use farm-fresh and freshly butchered foods to cook. My favorite of the three is Napoleon Tavern, in Napoleon, IN. They grow their own tomatoes in their back yard and buy their meat from the meat locker in town. Their food tastes awesome.