My Private Farm off the Farm

• Sunday, March 29, 2009 - Spring is puttering along

***SIDENOTE.... can anyone help me out? I still can't figure out why what I type and all the indentations and extra space between paragraphs don't *stick* when I publish a post. What am I doing wrong? I would like to stay with this homesteader blog because I feel it is more private.. . but if my posts are going to keep looking like gobbly gook... I may have to find a different place to next*** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay so Spring is puttering along... I fished all dead fish out of the little "pretty" ponds.. and I started the fountain and waterfall. I am hopefull that if it gets down to freezing the water movement will keep the pond from refreezing. The 1st batch of peeps hatched and from all my hatching I have learned many things..... 1.) I have had no better luck with a forced air incubator v.s our still air incubator (less $$$) 2.) Eggs laid earlier and stored in the basement hatch a day or two later vs. the ones most recently laid. 3.)I have manually hatched 7 eggs (over my experience) that have pipped and gone no further; and all have survived and thrived. I have a nice technique going...so all the naysayers that go on and on about a pipped peep that doesn't hatch will die if you help it- Well I have just not seen that happen. I would be more then happy to help anyone who wants to try my theory out, I haven't lost one yet. 4.) NEVER trust just one thermometer....always have at least two in the incubator. This year we realized that we haven't gotten a lot of new hens in awhile. So we are going a bit extreme with new birds this year. Which means some of the chickens will be going to auction in the fall. for example, lol.... We have the birds just hatched (which really is a piddly amount), Then I have a public school teacher bringing me her classes peeps in April, then I plan on seeing if Tractor Supply has a few extra Rhode Island reds for sale near easter, and last but certainly not least in May the big box shows up of all the peeps we ordered. My uncle, my friend and I all went in on an order of peeps to split up the shipping costs. It will be TONS of fun looking into a box of 50 peeps and trying to figure out who goes to whom...seeing as all are different breeds! The peas have popped! I went along to all of the Pea patches and inspected. It always amazes me that I can give a tribe of kids some peas and every year those peas actually grow. AMAZING.lol. Just for good measure I planted onions yesterday and pansys...because I just HAVE to look out the window and see some color! The new players in my garden this year are the Aji Amarillo pepper. A native of Peru. In Peru they make this AWESOME yellow sauce for chicken. You can not get these peppers in this country...but you can get the seeds so I ordered a few packets and along with my sweet banana peppers we are going to give these a whirl. I know a few Peruvians and they all are excited to hear that I will have some to hand out this summer. The peppers are supposed to be fruity with some heat. Last year I tried to desperatly to grow some Guatemala melons.... but I think our season isn't long enough. The vines took off and grew up the trellis... but never bloomed. I guess I could try again... but they took up a lot of room and just made me annoyed. Has anyone else heard of the new prophesy coming out of the NYC church of Dave Wilkerson? I normally don't pay too much attention...but he is the one that had heard from God to make 2000 sandwiches for "survivors"...and he stayed up all night making the sandwiches and the next day was the 911 thing. My mom heard about the new word and is all in a lather.... then my sister...and they went on about it too me.. but I am always so skeptical.... so I am letting it all sit in me for awhile to see how it settles. Plant a big garden. MommaBrown

• Thursday, April 9, 2009 - Untitled Comment

Posted by DeborahNewby

Hey! To break your paragraphs up use
< b r >
(typed all together.)

That will allow you to put space in between lines and words.

:)

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