Hanging Clothes Out On the Line & Chicken Whisperer

Hello from Windmill Farm-Have you seen all the lilacs blooming?  You can just smell their fragrance in the air.

What a glorious spring day we are having here in Gridley.  We have spent the last week or so planting more and more items in our garden and getting the drip systems all hooked up.  We try to keep some general sections the same from year to year, but rotating crops is one added features of being a sustainable farmer.  You never want to leave the same crop in the same location as that one item will deplete the soil of all the nutrients that one plant needs specifically which results in having to add fertilizers.  Because we do move our crops around, the watering needs change which require changing the drip systems or number of drip tapes we need for that crop.  And we have stopped using the black plastic a few years ago for a few reasons: 1) it only lasted a few years and it split into millions of little pieces all over the soil (even though it states it is bio-degradable); 2) I hand weed or use straw for weed control; 3) with the cost of petroleum, the black plastic is terribly expensive.

 

HANGING THE WASH OUT ON THE LINE-AN OLD FASHIONED PRACTICE STILL GOOD TODAY

 

In the spring and summer, I try and save some $$$ by hanging my clothes out on the line and today is a beautiful day to do it.  In Pinterest, I even have a board called "Laundry" and add some of the most beautiful photos of either old fashions clothes pins; or just laundry blowing in the breeze.  Here are a few of my favorites.

 Have you ever heard of a Chicken Whisperer??I received a nice email from Catherina Davidson who works in the poultry division of the Tractor Supply office.  She mentioned a few resources over at Tractor Supply that I did not know about.  They have a site that is called Meet Andy the Chicken Whisper.  He is going to start to do short UTube clips on all aspects of raising and taking care of chickens.  Catherina also mentioned that they have created a sub-category within their website that is similar to a blog, where they provide tips, information, tricks, photos, videos on any subject that has to do with raising backyard chickens.  Check it out here: http://www.tscchickdays.com/.

Frank and I want to wish you all a very Happy Easter.