HAPPY FEBRUARY TO YOU ALL
Totally illogical, but when February gets here, I feel like spring has arrived.
So I’m smiling as I type this.
Happy Spring to you all!
A little self-deception can do wonders for the winter blues. LOL
BUSY TIMES HERE
Bev got the job she wanted, Director of the Tumwater Farmers Market. This is a great job for her, right in her wheelhouse, doing something she loves doing, making contacts in the urban farming community, and spreading the word about the advantages of urban farming. She is seriously pumped, and I am seriously happy for her. Of course I’ll be helping her, doing the blogging for her, helping her with pamphlets and brochures, spreading the word about this movement we both believe in.
So congratulations, Bev!
CHICKS TO PULLETS
We struck up a deal with the Eastside Urban Farm & Garden Center here in Olympia. We are buying forty chicks (at $3 each) and raising them until they are pullets (about four months old), and then we will sell them to customers for about $25 each. That adds up to a tidy little profit.
I built a brooder in the garage where we will raise the chicks for the first month. After that we’ll move them out into one of the aviaries in the backyard for a month, and then out to our son’s farm for the final two months until we sell them.
RAISING MEALWORMS
Having all those chickens means feeding them, of course, and I’m all for cutting down on that expense, so I’m raising mealworms. Very easy to do, for those of you willing to try something new. Get yourself a ten-gallon plastic container and fill the bottom with three inches of wheat bran. Order 1000 mealworms and put them into the container. Add a couple potato slices for moisture, and then leave them alone.
Make sure you cut a hole in the lid of the container for fresh air, and cover that hole with some sort of mesh or screen. It takes about a month for the mealworms to breed, lay eggs, go through the larva stage, and give birth to new mealworms. Then they turn into beetles. You then have a constant supply of mealworms and beetles for your chickens to eat.
It’s so easy even I can do it.
PRUNING
Bev was energetic a couple weeks ago, and went outside and did some pruning/trimming. She then put the pruned limbs on our brush pile in the backyard.
Yes, we have a brush pile in our backyard, and we have no intention of hauling it away to the dump.
Brush piles make great habitats for little critters and birds, and we are all about providing natural habitats for the critters and birds. As an added bonus, our chickens like to hang out near the pile, where they are constantly treated to worms and bugs.
It’s a win-win situation for all concerned, except, of course, for the worms and bugs. J
TIME TO GET BACK TO WORK
Have a great week and enjoy the springtime in February!
Bill
The Urban Farm Yard Sanctuary 
It is always fun to read what’s happening on your farm. My husband and I enjoy gardening so much we plan to take a course to become master gardeners. In our area, they only offer the course every two years, so we won’t be able to become master gardeners for a while. I am on the list for the 2018 training. It’s a bummer to have to wait so long. In the meantime, I am learning as much as I can on my own. I am so happy for you and especially Bev for becoming the Director of the Tumwater Farmers Market. She must be on Cloud 9 right now. You two have such loving hears and so you deserve the best that life has to offer.
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Aw, thanks Marlene! That’s exciting about becoming a Master Gardener. Too bad you have to wait that long but still, exciting stuff.
Best wishes, dear friend.
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Hi Bill… Thanks for all the news and all your ventures. Mealworms are the easiest thing to raise, I had them for years as they were a ready source of food for the tropical fish I used to raise and sell. I just used an older 10 gallon aquarium. Another thing you may want to look at is raising Red Wiggler worms. They are a sought after item by fisherman and they like mealworms are so easy to raise. They make great compost as well.
Hugs from Canada
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Way ahead of you, Rolly! Ten feet from me right now are two bins of red wigglers. LOL Thanks for the suggestion…great minds think alike, my friend.
Hugs from Oly
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So happy for Bev and that you too are going to be involved in the market, wish you two were running some of the ones I did here, management were poor in many and organization a shambles at times! Glad to hear the farm is running alone nicely have a great week Bill from my neck of the woods xx
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Aw thanks, Irish! I have no doubt Bev will do a great job…I wish we were running your markets as well. It would be fun to hang with you on market day. 🙂
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Pass my congratulations to Bev for getting the job. I’m sure she will do well.
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I will do that, Zulma! Thanks so much!
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Big Bro, you really got the farm factory going. Not only with writing, but I also think you’ve found your other calling here. 🙂 As I get older, I’m realizing that my calling may not be in traditional education at all, but in a less mainstream way with meditation (or…wait…maybe it’s getting more mainstream, lol). In any case, congrats to Bev, and kudos to you both for living out your life missions. 🙂
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Lil Sis, I can say, without hesitation, that a certain amount of wisdom and clarity come with getting older. That may be the nicest thing I can say about getting older, but it’s something, right? LOL Happy Sunday dear friend.
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