I have decided to start building and selling wooden planter boxes for spring along with offering plants for sell.

  I currently have access to used pallets, so I will be using the wood from them to build with.

  I even located an industrial planner to make them look even better. I won’t have the planer until after the first of the year. Which is fine by me. Gives me more time to save up for it.

  It will need a little tlc, and I need to make space for it along with my table saw, etc. I have limited work space. But I will work on finding more space and getting things more organized to make life easier and better.

  I have a large bakers rack with wheels on it,  and I’ve long considered mounting my tools on a chunk of plywood that would then slide into the rack for storage and have a work bench set up to hold the chunks of plywood with tools when I needed to use them.

  The thought of buying a good-sized carport and using it for a shop after enclosing it has crossed my mind, and I may well do that this spring.

  If I’m going to get serious about building things to sell, I need a shop to work in. It will more than likely start out with a dirt floor and eventually have a concrete slab with heating will be put in.

    My work bench will, of course, be made of reclaimed wood, I have more than enough decent tools to outfit a small wood shop, but I’ll set up my welding equipment in it as well. I thoroughly enjoy fabricating things with metal and once dreamed of building museum quality things with wood. I gave up on that dream after nearly severing my thumb. There was just so much I could no longer do at the time.

  I have adapted to having a usless thumb and may once again try my hand at woodworking on a more skilled level. I believe I still have some of the blueprints I’d bought when I was getting serious about it.

My next goal is to get set up to make tongue and groove on boards. The oldest and I decided we would cover the ceiling and maybe the walls of his room with tongue and groove pallet boards that have been planed and sealed.

I think it will look good but we will see. Thank you for following along.

  I’d meant to build a coop since before we actually got chicks, however life and the weather got in the way.

  Chicks started to become chickens, and I still didn’t have a coop built. I have plenty of wood waiting to be put back to use.

  But I ended up looking for coops online. In all reality, they are not as expensive as I thought they would be, but as with all things, you can spend as much as you want.

  The one I settled on said it was the right size for two to four birds. However, it seems a bit small for four birds in all honesty. It’s a combination coop / chicken tractor.

  I’m going to have to make a new bottom part for it to raise the coop part a bit higher. The lone duck can barely stand up underneath the coop part.

  Also, a full sized feeder and waterer pretty much block off the ramp going up to the roost area.

I’d originally started this post as a draft months ago and am just getting back to it. Long story I’d bought a 6’X10′ run to attach to the coop.

Things were going great. The chickens and lone duck demolished the weeds wherever I placed the tractor and made short work of kitchen scraps. They all seemed quite happy and were close to starting to lay eggs.

I checked the tracking on the run I ordered, and it showed to be two days out. I went out at lunch break and gave them some fresh food and water. At the time, I thought I saw something reddish in color zoom through the yard but thought little of it after finding nothing as I looked around.

However, upon coming home, I found there was a large reddish dog running around in front of the house. The oldest took it back to its owner. What I could not have foreseen until I took scraps out for the chickens was that this dog had ripped the coop apart and killed our birds. I was beyond lived. Had I realized what had happened, things may have played out a bit differently.

The dogs owner overheard my rant about what the dog had done and came over to talk to me. They gave me a dollar amount that made me feel bad, not only for taking it but for having my melt down as I was taking care of the mess.

They, however, insisted I take the money, and all these months later, the dog has not returned.

The run I had ordered a week before showed up the day after our little flock was wiped out. It still sits in the box it arrived in.

A word or warning, the small cheap coops are fine for a well protected area, but I wouldn’t personally recommend one for an open space.

I haven’t replaced our flock yet but will come spring. The next coop will be built from pallets and have chain link fence laid all around the base and covered with dirt to prevent anything digging in from outside and I may cover the pallets with a layer of paper pulp adobe bricks. The boys and I made some around six years ago, and they were left laying around to see how they would hold up.

They were just left bare, and even though we had over twenty inches of rain this year, other than having faded out in color, they are still solid and in great shape

As we dig out our root celler/storm shelter, we will deal with the excess dirt by making adobe bricks. Some dirt will of course be used to fill raised bed gardens.

Both are stories for a later date. Thank you for taking the time to read this. We realize your time is valuable. Please like and subscribe or share our posts to help us grow. May your ventures be me with success.

Here, a while back, the oldest boy asked some friends up the street what they were going to do with the bags of leaves they had raked up.

There were four bags on a small trailer at the time. The answer was they were going to haul them to the dump when they were done raking them all up.

A few days later, I got a text asking if I really wanted their leaves. Of course, I said I did.

Fast forward to today, and this is what they brought me.

20 large bags full in total.

I’m thankful to have them. My compost will, of course, be overflowing now, but that’s a good problem

Lining the compost bin with cardboard and getting all of these leaves stuffed into the bin is a project for tonight after work.

As always, thank you for following along and may your ventures be met with sucess!

Long story short, I finally got my small green house put up. It only took a year to get around to it. Seemed something more urgent always came up around the same time I’d get started.

By the time I had time to put it up, spring was in full swing, and I wasn’t overly concerned with it as I was already planting in the ground.

In any event, it’s up and in use. I built a shelf that runs the length of it using old pallet boards that I currently have quite a few of and boards from the old shed.

I had planned on putting in a second shelf using the scraps cut from the end of these boards. However, plans changed this morning.

As I was adding coffee grounds to the compost pile, I couldn’t help but notice someone had tossed out a nearly full half sheet of good plywood.

I promptly snagged it and will be using it for my second shelf. The sides and ends will be some more 2X4s that were salvaged from the old shed I took down. I’ll use pallet boards to cover the three foot need to make the shelf to match the eleven foot shelf it will attach to.

I’ll still be working on the 5lb box of screws I bought and using salvaged and found tools.

I’m fired up to be getting seedlings started, but I have to keep telling myself that it’s still a bit early, though about the end of December I’ll be filling some seed trays to start in the house and will move them to the greenhouse as soon as temps start to raise enough that I won’t have to worry about them freezing.

I plan on making a small hydroponic set up with a two or three inch pvc pipe running just shy of the length of both shelves. I have 100 net pots, so I’ll just need to figure out a pump and holding tank.

I have a small waste water tank for an RV that I may end up using, I figure it’s designed to hold water and best of all it was included in an old stock trailer I’d bought a couple of years ago.

These short days are taking a toll on productivity, so work is going slower than I’d like, but I’m still moving forward. Got the pile of boards from a couple of pallets I’d torn down, picked up, and put away, sort of. They aren’t in their place for the winter, but at least it’s no longer just a trashy looking pile of boards in the yard.

Part of the boards are headed to the fire pit, and others will more than likely be used in our raised garden beds as filler, while the nicer boards will be used for projects, including more raised garden beds.

I’m considering building some planters just to see if I can sell a few while I’m offering plants for sale. Waste not want not! Thank you for stopping by.

May your ventures be met with success!

  Hello, and thank you for stopping by.

  I haven’t posted in a while. it seems I am easily distracted. I’d met someone, and we chatted for some months.

  Apparently, my need to write and be heard can be satisfied  with chatting.

  I find myself disappointed in my lack of discipline where writing is concerned. My lack of focus upsets me, I’ll never be able to monetize my blog or YouTube channel if I can’t stay focused and write on a schedule.

My YouTube is, of course, more of a vlog, which I enjoy almost as much as I do writing. While still not the best, I feel my recording is improving. And I enjoy posting, though my following is quite small. I still feel as if I may help someone with what I share. Or at least I hope someone finds what I share useful.

I’m finding that at my age and with raising young kids, a relationship just may not be in the cards for me, and if so, that’s just the way it goes.

One thing I do know that is and will be here for me for years to come is writing.

Until or unless my mental capacity fades, I’ll be able to put thoughts into words and share them.

Today, I worked on cleaning my space up and started refilling my slightly oversized compost bin back up with my second batch. The first batch is well rotted, and much is suitable for starting seeds in.

At the start of spring, I’ll build my 3rd and final bin and turn my existing pile over into it and sift out what I need to fill my pots and trays, which in reality I will try to do around the end of December.

My hope is to start about five thousand plants, I’d started two thousand plants last season. Most was wiped out by a nasty hail storm. I’ve heard insect netting helps limit hail damage, so I plan on getting some to cover the plants I plan on growing for our use. I also want to throw some over the greenhouse for a just in case.

Hopefully, the rest will sell. If not, I’ll try to barter or perhaps give some away. I like trading plants for others that I do not have. I’d traded a vine start for a succulent start. Actually, they gave me two small starts, I now have four. I hope to have many more by springtime. I’ve found the leaves themselves will set roots.

May your ventures be met with success.

Today I started a new adventure in learning how to air layer, truth be told I should have started much sooner than today. But it is what it is.

I’ve also started taking suckers off of my strongest tomato plant to make starts with. It’s well over 6′ tall and has produced fruit all summer and is still blooming.

I had earlier stated it was a beefsteak but have to correct myself and say it is, in fact, a better boy hybrid. So saving seeds may not work out, but I have plenty of room for starts, and I can hopefully overwinter them.

What I will do is get around six or seven good strong starts and use them to get more starts through the winter months.

By the time spring starts, I’ll have plenty of tomato plants.

I put the first pod on a rose bush and am counting the days until I can check for roots. I’m just hoping I have enough time before it turns cold.

I filled the pod halves with potting soil, scraped the stem a little, I then put rooting hormone on the stem and placed the pod around it. Now I wait a couple of weeks and see how it goes.

Air pod attached.

  I have read a lot about why you shouldn’t clean up your yard until spring is well underway.

  I have yet to hear anyone say you shouldn’t clean up before winter hits, though.

  That is exactly what I did last year. I made sure all the grass was neatly mowed, one yards clippings went into the compost while the other was hit with a mulching mower including the leaves and left to fertilize the Buffalo grass that has been slowly but surely spreading. It cuts down on the mud, looks better than weeds, and is in an area that I don’t currently use for food production. So, I like to encourage it to grow and spread. I’ve been planting flowers in the area for pollinators as well.

We’ve had a lot of rain here this year, so the weeds have done exceptionally well this season.

I have cut, mowed, chopped, and still I have weeds everywhere. I do have a few areas where they are finally gone from and won’t be back this season.

That being said, the wind last winter filled the yard with tumble weeds. The entire area was waist deep and even higher in other places.

I broke them down and used the results as Hugelkultur to fill raised beds and containers. Though I’m certain they left enough seeds to cover the yard in weeds for years.

While I dislike dealing with weeds, I will, of course, make the best of the situation. The green weeds will be cheerfully deposited into the compost as they are mowed or otherwise chopped down.

I’m getting a bit off topic. My main point is that I clean up fairly well before it turns cold.

I feel it saves time, come spring, and it’s time to start planting. I’m not still trying to get beds cleaned up and ready to go, and it also increases the content in my compost piles and enriches my containers as I generally dig the old plants under to break down over winter.

I have done this with the container for the tomato Brayzen, and I have grown together for at least three years now, and the following year, the plant we place in the container grows very well. It’s currently around 6′ tall and loaded with extremely tasty fruit. I’ll save some seeds back and grow another from it next season.

I haven’t noticed a drop in insects, either beneficial or pests, so I will continue doing what I started last year with clean up until or unless I’m convinced that I should not.

I think if you do it as soon as possible, it’s not as hard on the critters that might otherwise use the liter to lay their eggs in and such.

Please feel free to weigh in, and let’s discuss the matter. I’m curious to see if anyone else is doing something similar to have less work in spring or not and whether or not you believe it’s worth the effort.

May your ventures be met with success. Please consider liking and subscribing if you enjoy the content.

 

  Should you rake up your leaves and make leaf mold or leave them where they fall to nurture the plants and critters in the soil when they decompose.

  I have to admit I have no real preference between the two. That being said, I do have a couple of places where I let the leaves stay over winter and rake them up after spring is well underway.

  Otherwise, they are collected when they fall and composted. I must admit I’m not an expert on leaf mold, so I will share a video for you to watch and will encourage you to do further research so you can decide which way is best for you.

  The leaves are far too valuable to just pitch in the trash for those of us working towards sustainability.

I will issue a word of caution when using leaves in the garden. Some are great, and if you leave them lay and rot, it will enrich your soil. There is no doubt about it.

However, too much of a good thing is not such a good thing. Leaves that fall contain a growth inhibitor. I once raked someone’s yard for their leaves. It was a huge score.

My entire garden was covered with leaves knee deep. I worked hard and dug them all under that fall. Come spring, the soil level was still pretty high compared to where it had been.

I planted my garden, and things started out great, but then everything just stopped growing at about a foot tall. I harvested nothing that year at all. The area has some of the best-looking soil I’ve ever seen, and I can grow pretty much anything there now, but I lost a whole season because I did not know about the growth inhibitor. Live and learn.

May your ventures be met with success!Please consider liking and subscribing.

https://youtu.be/nlzq8qzE0cE?si=VdI7eDZ359qyIjEM

https://youtu.be/dDNqU-7Vi1k?si=3bid65Rc5J4GDpee

  I finally got the compost bin filled to the point that it’s not settling in a matter of days like it was, so I added the second section on to it.

  I still need to put an end on it and secure the middle so that it doesn’t bow out on us.

  I’ll chop down the corn that didn’t produce and the lone sunflower which was growing just outside of the bin.

  I will then cover the dirt with two layers of cardboard and run the sunflower and corn stalks through my small shredder. I’ll scatter the shred across the cardboard and cover it with grass clippings

The channels I watch on youtube talk about lining the pallets with cardboard. I’m still trying to decide if I want to do that or go another route, to be honest.

I may line it with hardware cloth, but the price for that has gone up quite a bit in the last two years, and I’m trying to get the biggest return with the least amount of output.

I will most likely just go with cardboard this season and figure things out next season. It won’t be long before the leaves fall, and I want to collect as many as possible for compost. They will also go into the bottom of the second bin and will be covered when I turn the first bin into the second for it to finish breaking down.

I have big plans as far as starting plants to sell for next season, and I have hopes of having enough homemade starting mix to start them all. If not, I’m not going to stress over as I’m certain by year two, my first bin will be broken all the way down, and there will be another batch well underway.

From there on out, I should have more than enough compost/potting soil that I never need to buy any again.

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Best of luck, and may your ventures be met with success!

We have around thrityfive, twentyfive gallon tubs that we are using to grow food in. Not all are set up just yet, but we are working on it. Below is a short video showing in part how we are doing this.

We had problems, to say the least, but Brayzen and I stuck with it and got it done.

It’s not the best quality video, but I’m learning and will do better as time goes by.

There is also an upcoming video of making raised garden beds from pallets, which can also be done with other sources of wood. I really like the pallets because, at for now I’m getting them for free.

https://youtu.be/Dpm4uT7XjAc?si=vZIeDUTjupor7xXo

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