Our Round Pen

So we have made the decision to adopt mustangs from the BLM. To adopt a horse over the age of 2 you have to have 6ft fencing. I found a local feed store that was running a special on round pens. We got 10 foot long and 6 foot tall panels for $64 each. We chose to get the heaviest gauge metal panels. We also chose to get a 4 foot gate. My mom, myself and my sister put it together in one of our turnouts. We have a 4 stall barn with two 100'x50' turnouts attached. It only took us three girls about an hour of labor to get the round pen put together. And it is already for the horses to arrive.

I can't wait to bring our babies home!!! Stay tuned to see our new babies and watch their training.

Our First Veggie Garden

So we moved here to start growing our own food and this is step one, well technically two. Okay here comes a tangent. Skip the next paragraph if you don't care. 

The previous owner had a enclosed asparagus garden and a raised strawberry bed that they left behind. So step one was cutting down all the dead asparagus stalks and lay new layer of manure. That was simple enough. Actually I think that was harder than creating a new bed... The old bed had mulch on top and that had to be raked off new manure laid stalks cut back then redistribute the mulch. I also planted onion bulbs and potatoes down the center of the bed. And let me tell you onions sure are ugly!!! I keep thinking they are dying, but then I pull one up and it has a very nice root system going. So we shall see....

Okay so I decided I wanted a raised garden bed, it seemed easier to tend and start. I had some left over 2"x12"x12' boards, some 4"x4" boards, and a large compost pile left behind by the previous owners. I did purchase some top soil and a bag of peat moss. I started by constructing the box I took two of the 2"x12"x12' boards and a 2"x"12"x8' board. I cut the 8' board in half. Then I took the 4"x4" board and cut it into 15" pieces. I wanted to be able to add more height if needed in the future. After the cuts were made I started building the box. I decided the location and attached the 4"x4" boards to the 12' long boards. Set them up and attached one end piece (4' board).

I left one end open to make it easier to wheel the garden cart in and out with the loads of dirt and compost. Next I laid down cardboard at the bottom. I read that it would prevent weeds from growing in the bed. We had plenty of old boxes left behind from our move. I simply cut them open and laid them down.

Next I wheeled loads of compost into the bed. Once the compost was added I attached the last board. And spread the peat moss. Then I added the top soil. We chose Kellogg's Raised Bed & Potting Mix. It took 3 bags of 2sqft bags to fill the bed. I hope that is deep enough... I guess we will find out.

I mixed the soil together and spread it out evenly. Once the soil was ready I began planting my seed and plants. I had picked up some tomato and lettuce plants from the local feed store and I purchased our seeds from Territorial Seeds, I bought all open pollinated seeds and I tried to stick to organic and heirloom. I am planting based off of the recommendations, by an agricultural university, for my area.(www.NHG.com) I planted what I knew we would eat. So the first garden has lettuce (plants and seeds), tomatoes (plants and seeds), spinach, carrots (I hear they are nearly impossible to grow, but why not try), green beans, cantaloupe and watermelon. In the previous garden I planted two bulbs of rhubarb, seed potatoes, onions, and the existing asparagus. I gave the bed a good watering and I am done. I will keep watering and watching for any signs of growth. Here's hoping for success!!! I will be adding another 4'x12' bed later this summer for the fall harvest. I plan to plant cucumbers (pickling and regular), pumpkins (for Halloween), okra, and sweet potatoes. I had planned to plant garlic as well, but as it turns out I have a mole issue on the property the best way I have found according to my research is to plant garlic around the property to drive them away. So I will be attempting to ward off the moles and vampires with garlic around the perimeter of our property.
My first veggie garden!!!

Stayed tuned for the results!!!

Total supplies:
2- 2"x12"x12' boards
1- 2"x12"x8' board
1- 4"x4"x8' board
12 - 4" exterior screws
leftover cardboard
3 - 2sqft bags of top soil
1 - bag of peat moss
Seeds and plants

Chicken Waterers           

No mess, always clean waterers for chickens.  I have done tons of research, probably too much, and I kept seeing that the best waterers for chickens were the kind the chickens couldn’t poop in or stand on. Through my research I found these things called chicken nipple waterers. I got mine from Amazon because I am Prime baby!!! And they seemed to be cheaper. Here is the link: click here. I bought the 25 pack because that seemed like it would be plenty, and it was even after my toddler decided to play with them and lose about 7 of them. I am sure I will find them someday, probably when we redecorate his room. The next thing I did was run to Home Depot and purchase 4 5 gallon buckets with lids and some silicone caulk made for kitchens and bathrooms. Once you have all yours supplies then you need to grab your tools. Tools needed:

Drill

3/8” drill bit

Caulking gun

Okay so step one:

Turn your buckets over. Drill as many holes as you feel like into the bottom of the buckets. Be careful to not created an irregular hole or too big of a hole. You want it to be as tight of fit as possible. Also try to minimize the rough edges of the hole. I chose to do 4 holes in each bucket giving me a total of 16 nipples. 

 

For only 20 chickens I think that will be fine. I didn’t want there to be so many that while one chicken is pecking at the waterer another chicken gets wet from the over flow. I wanted them all to be in use without being crowded.

Step two:

Place the nipple into the hole. Okay that sounds bad, but I can’t help it. Keep it clean people. The screw laces should go into the bucket and the bolt looking side should hang out.

This end should be hanging out the bottom.

This end should be pushed inside of hole. The rubber ring should be flush against the bottom of the bucket.

Step 3:

Seal the holes and nipples.

At first I thought I would secure the nipples into the bucket using nuts (as in nuts and bolts, don’t get cheeky!!!). I quickly abandoned that idea, it sucked and failed miserably.

 The last thing you want is all the water to leak out of the buckets and make a wet mess of your run or coop. So I used the silicone caulk to seal all around each nipple. Be very careful not to get any caulk on the metal pin either on top or bottom. Allow the recommended amount time for the caulk to dry. See the label on your specific caulk.

Step 4:

Test the water retention. Simply hang your bucket or buckets and fill them with water. There shouldn’t be any leaking from the nipples or around them. If there is allow the area to dry and reapply more caulk to the leaking area. If you are clear then check that each nipple produces water when pushed. If all that works it is time to hang your waterers.

 

Step 5:

Hang your waterer. I chose to do 4 buckets, 2 inside the coop and 2 in the run. Place the lids securely on your buckets and hang the buckets from the rafters or ceiling. Make sure the bucket sits enough off the ground for the chickens to get under it, but not so high that they can’t reach it. Also avoid areas that wind could cause the buckets to turn into wrecking balls. Insert visual image of the chicken version of Miley Cirus riding the bucket.

Final step:

Fill your buckets up and make sure your chickens understand how to get water. If these are new to your chickens you may want to leave at least one of your old waterers in, until you are sure that everyone is able and willing to use the new buckets.

 

Supplies/costs:

4 – 5 gallon buckets with lids $4.65/each

25 – chicken watering nipples $5.50 for 25

1 tube of silicone caulk $7.97

Grand total = $32.07

So for under $35 I have chicken waterers that will keep the water clean, reduce the splash of water = a mess, that will eliminate the worry of a chick falling into the water and drowning, and that I won’t have to fill up daily. Win-win in my opinion. I plan to have my chicks arrive in April and I will start them out on these waterers as soon as I can. Hopefully all goes well and I don’t have to come up with something else.

 

Working on our first graden

This past weekend my wife, the kiddo and myself took the first couple of steps of getting our garden ready. The previous owner had a large garden, raised garden that currently has strawberry plants, and a smaller garden that had asparagus and onions. So with keeping with tradition, we kept the asparagus, planted onion bulbs and added potato's. Here's a picture of the garden that we worked on this weekend.

Earlier in the week, we received our first ever seed orders. We ordered 13 plant seeds from territorial seed company and four seeds from Johnny's selected seeds. The reason that we went with two different company's is for no other reason than one had certain seed, that the other didn't have. The one thing that I like that Territorial seed company does, is they provide plant information for that particular plant. As a newbie, I found this very informative.

Just in case someone needs the links for the seed company's.
http://www.territorialseed.com/
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/

Our future projects on the Double W Ranch

Here is a list of projects that we will be doing around the ranch/ homestead. I'm sure this list will grow, after I have the wife glance over it. While we are working on the projects, I'll either be taking photos or video. Hopefully the visual aid will help you in your projects.

1st project is a chicken coop for the wife's chickens.
2nd project is to build a couple raised garden beds, and plant seeds for the upcoming growing season.
3rd project will be to redo the compost pile and build a three sided bin for the compost pile.
4th project will be getting the barn horse ready.
5th project will be some bed room furniture for the master bedroom.
6th project will be a small remodel on the master bathroom
7th project will be the remodel on the guest bath.
8th project will be to put shiplap boards on one wall in the kitchen.
To be continued....

Our backstory

For awhile now, we have wanted to raise chicken for eggs and meat, grow our own food, and have space to stretch our legs out at the end of a long day. We also wanted a place to raise our son and not have to do that in the big city.

About a year ago, we started looking for areas outside the metroplex that met our needs. We decided that North Texas met our needs. It seemed like every weekend, we were either spending our weekends driving around the country side looking at potential homes or finding them on the net. There were some very disappointing moments throughout this search, but that's expected when you're house hunting. I think that helps you love your new home even more. But the weekend finally came that we found our future home. It was the last house on our list to tour on that rainy Sunday. I was sold on another house we looked at earlier that day, but the wife was in love with the last house of the day. I wasn't due to some factors that I was worried about. But the wife was able to talk me out of them on the ride home.

That night we put our offer in, but we soon found out that same day several people looked at the house and there were other offers. Our awesome Realtor had suggested we write the seller a letter introducing ourselves. We went back and forth a bit, but eventually we won the house. We later found out the letter was the deciding factor for the seller.

So we really did it. We bought our dream home this past December.