Grow Station Progress.

Day 4. No growth.

Day 6. First onion sprouts.

Day 10. Onions

Peppers

Day 18

Our usual performers are doing well. California Orange

Mirasol Pepper

The peppers seem to have started off a little faster this year, maybe due to the seed warming mat. They are about the size that our peppers were last year at one month, instead of 18days. There are still a lot of empty pods that have had no germination. 

The temperature module is working pretty well at keeping the soil right around 80degrees. It has a harder time when the room is cool, but it still works well enough. 

We planted the onion trays with different patterns to see what works best for us. The tray above was seeded by sprinkling the seeds on the soil surface

The one shown here was a bit more purposeful in rows. 

Pretty good start so far to our seedling endeavors. 

Thanks for reading

Furniture Building: Front Entrance Bench and Shoe Cubby- Painting/Priming

I have been patiently waiting for a warm day to paint our 'Mudroom' style bench/cubby. Today was the day. We had a really nice warm and sunny day here in Spokane, so I decided to paint outside.

This is the bench after a coat of primer applied the week before in the shed on a decently warm day.

First coat of paint. It is much easier to paint outside than it is to paint in the shed. I was glad for the opportunity!

The back.

The photo above shows the bench with the top piece. It is lifted up because I had extra time and was able to paint the seat before it got too cold. I was able to do both coats of green paint as well. I just need to paint the front trim with two coats, apply one more coat to the bench top, and secure the top to the base. In the middle cubby, 2 pieces of laminate tile are shown; we are going to use these to cover the surfaces that come in contact with the shoes. I haven't ever done tile before so it will be interesting.

I put the bench away for the night in our crammed shed. I wish I had a woodshop, but I am happy to have a saw and be able to work outside. We are nearly done!

Thanks for reading! 

Simple Idea For Winter Feeding of Chickens

Here at The Halpern Homestead, we are always looking for ways to substitute the chicken's diet in the winter. Winter for many chickens is fed based on a packaged chicken feed offered at all hours of the day. Us, as well as many of our blog friends and local friends, choose not to follow this practice as the only source of feeding during the winter. 

Summer around our home is a great time for the chickens. The hens are free range. Meaning they have unlimited access to all the bugs and vegetation that they can forage in the daylight hours. In addition to extras we provide our chickens with: garden overgrowth/weeds as well as produce damaged by the voles, daily kitchen scraps/spoils that they love so much, and any other 'human' waste that the chickens just love (rinds, cobs, seeds, anything too bitter or sour).

The winter complicates things since we aren't growing extra produce in the garden and the vegetation in the fields is limited. One idea that I really like, is buying organic produce at sale prices and feeding it to the chickens. Now in an ideal world, we would grow enough food in the garden to support us and our animals throughout the winter. Someday this will be our goal, but for now we are doing the best we can with what we have.

I was at our local natural market 2 weeks ago and found a 25lb bag of organic carrots for only $15. Screaming deal on carrots! 

Now carrots may not be a 'complete' feed for chickens in terms of needed proteins, fats, carbs, and minerals; but they have a lot more minerals and vitamins than one would think.

Nutrition facts according to the USDA

Vitamins according to http://nutritiondata.self.com.

Minerals according to http://nutritiondata.self.com.

Plenty of trace minerals such as: calcium/manganese. Electrolytes such as: potassium and magnesium. Vitamins such as: vitamins A/C/K/B6, thiamin and the wonderful folate. Small amount of protein, a large amount of dietary fiber and even iron. What more can you ask for in a low carbohydrate snack?

Carrots are well tolerated among our animal friends from the dogs to the geese, they all enjoy them. We have found that the carrots are better tolerated by the birds if shredded first.

Luckily we have a food processor with a shred blade.

It makes quick work of pounds of carrots. The usual batch is 1.5 gallons of volume.

The shredding power is almost excessive. Even the largest of carrots are gone in seconds.

Every time I take a late night snack to the birds I feel like they know I am coming.

It is well past bedtime and these birds are cruising the floor like they knew it was too soon for bed.

All birds from the hens to the ducks come running and flying for carrot time.

May not be a common practice for most, but the extra produce and attention shows in these beautiful eggs!

Thanks for reading!

Gardening Season 2012 Starts Today!

Tonight Kelsi and I started our first seed trays of the year.

We planted 4 open flats of onions. 

Gladstone- Long day white onion.

Newburg- Yellow onion with sweet white flesh.

Stuttgarter- Yellow onion, known for keeping all winter.

Violet De Galmi- Bright pink/purple onion which also keeps well.

We also started our peppers and eggplants. We decided to start them earlier this year than we did last year. We usually start them around March 1, but they have been pretty small still by the time we have the plant sale. So, we are trying an extra month earlier this year to see what happens. 

We are growing more varieties this year.

Black Beauty Eggplant

Long Purple Eggplant

Corno Di Toro Sweet Pepper

Cal Wonder Orange Bell Pepper- Awesome producer! Grew last year, fantastic flavor

Pepper Quadrato d'Asti Rosso-  Italian Red Pepper known for it's massive size.

White Habanero Pepper

Pizza Pepper- Mild Jalapeño 

Mirasol- Hot Pepper

We also bought a two flat seed warmer and thermostat to help the peppers and eggplants germinate a little better that last year. Haven't used a warming mat before so we are hoping for the best.

Thanks for reading!

Furniture Building: Front Entrance Bench and Shoe Cubby

I recently got a table saw from my wonderful wife! I decided to build a shoe cubby first, since our front door is always cluttered with a variety of shoes and boots. I am making it out of birch plywood with pine trim on the face. 

Here I have the base assembly all put together. I have the top drying behind(not shown), after gluing the boards together. Everything has been sanded down and the nail holes are all filled. Just need a warmish day to apply the primer and start painting. 

I haven't ever done woodworking like this before. I am learning a ton and can't wait to start my next project.

It has Started

Spring FEVER!

Getting our seed stock sorted by start dates.

We went through our seed stock yesterday. Ordered what we needed from Baker Creek and bought some that we know worked well for us from Irish Eyes. All Organic or Heirloom or both. It's going to be a big year for our veggie starts business. 

We will be starting our first seeds in 19 days. 

Warming Mat For Seed Germination

We are getting ready for seed starting and after reflecting back to lasts years results, I remembered we had terrible germination rates for our peppers. 

This is what happened last year.

I was wondering if anyone has used a warming mat before and whether or not it worked?

They have this one here at our local seed store for 31.99. I am hesitant to buy it without knowing how well it works.

That's for reading! Hopefully someone has some input.