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We had six trees cut down in early April, to make sunlight for our raised bed Potage‘ garden. That left us with a 10 foot highburn pile, with the branches cut off the tops of the trees. After having rain earlier this week it was a perfect time to burn the pile. So, DH cut the top third off of...

Thanks for the heads up on my location. I went in and added that to my profile. Elderberries grow wild all around us. You are correct that our plants occasionally experienced drought. Although, we did make a concerted effort to keep them watered with at least 1” per week. We are in our 70’s and...

I will definitely give that a try. We use 1 cup borax in 2 gallons boiling water to kill fire ants. You DO have to sneak up on the nest, so you don’t scare the queen deep into the ground. When you pour the boiling water on, it goes down the tunnels and kills the queen. The nest can’t survive...

We are in the NE corner of East Texas - Zone 8a. No dry spells and the hottest it has gotten is the mid 90s for a couple days, and then down into the 80s. I’m not sure it would be the plant material that we used. We have clay soil, so it NEEDS plant material, to help it hold moisture. We used...

I know! I was just sick when I saw the curled leaves!!! MY first thought was spider mites. But when I looked I didn’t see any.

I need help with my sick elderberry bushes. Several years ago we planted four elderberry bushes in 30 gallon half barrels. The plan was to dig holes and plant them in the ground. One thing led to another and they stayed in the barrels way too long. By that time we needed to dig some really big...

YES! Yogurt! Of course I make and love goat milk yogurt!!! I also make Kefir, which is a form of cultured milk, crammed full of gut healthy bacteria. In addition to drinking it and using it in baking to add levening. We also feed it to our cats and dogs, to keep their immune systems strong. We...

Thanks @flowerbug. I will take a look at those links this evening.

I love to make cheese, from the milk. Mozzarella is my favorite. But, i really want to buy a used refrigerator, to make a “cheese cave”, so I can make hard cheeses, which require an aging process of 8-12+ months at temps between 48-52F. The longer it ages, the harder and stronger the flavor...

WOW @flowerbug! I just took a look at your blog. You do have a LOT of water! I’m not sure what your average rainfall is, there in Michigan, but it MUST be more than our’s here in Texas! When we moved to Texas, from PA, following our daughter, to Dallas. We looked for land in the NE...

Thanks for your suggestions, @flowerbug. When you say dig the trench 3-1/2 feet, do you mean deep? We do have about 8” of sandy loam on top of clay. So, I would think digging down to the clay level would be sufficient, right? We are planning to fence the area about 40 feet out from the house...

All those beautiful comfry plants, that I showed above, eventually did get into the ground, along our driveway. However, only one managed to survive our hot, drought this past Summer. It isn’t big enough to divide, so I think I may just order some more shoots and give it another try. It will...

Oh and @flowerbug . . . I forgot to answer your question about the trenching. No, it didn’t really work, as we had hoped. We knew that it would be best to berm on the back side of the trench, but just didn’t have the time, energy or dirt to berm. So it didn’t get done. We still open up small...

Thanks for the input, @flowerbug! Yes, our water woes are an ongoing challenge here, on our property. By putting the sump pump in, we have managed to minimize water buildup in the crawl space. However, as much of the country has experienced, we have recently had a BOAT LOAD of rain here, and we...

I’ve been gone for a while. :hide Since I last posted, we got a couple of dairy goats, who kidded (of course), and I got caught up with “goat math”. I LOVE my goats!!! Long story short. We have had gains and losses. But, we now have four dairy goats and a Myotonic buck: Angelica - 21 months...

In addition to the garden area, we took the sod cutter to the pasture behind the chickens & goats, and cut a 150 foot long strip. Since we moved here, we have had a problem with flooding of our front acre, which includes the chickens, goats, house & garden area. The highest spot, on the...

Yes, we did the whole area . . . . and then some. We have Bermuda on the other side of the welded wire fence, in the back yard. I didn't want that grass to grow back into the garden, so we did that too. It is an area about 15×8'. As i was doing it, I could envision a "kitchen herb garden"...

Absolutely! Today is seed planting day. I have THOUSANDS of seeds to plant. I already started some a 11 days ago & now have Lavender, Echinacea, Sage and Winter Thyme coming up under the grow lights.

When I lived in PA, I met a 90 year old herbalist, who grew her own Comfrey. She allowed me to pick all the leaves I wanted to. As she got older (she died at the age of 92), she allowed me to dig up a few plants, which I grew in pots, on the back porch, since we lived in a condo, which didn't...

I knooow! Bermuda grass (aka coastal hay) can be a good thing - we feed it to our goats. Or, it can be a PITA, if trying to grow a vegetable garden. Last year we tried clearing a 15×15' area for vegetables. Very quickly, the Bermuda grew back. We figure the best way to get rid of it is to cut...