homemade yogurt 0

How to Make Your Own Yogurt

One of the many reasons to keep dairy goats is to make your own yogurt. It’s not only good for you and delicious, it’s also super easy. All you need is fresh milk and a starter culture. The starter culture...

azaleas in bloom 0

Starting Azaleas from Cuttings

Starting azaleas from cuttings is tricky business, according to everything I read before I gave it a try. And another try. And a third try — ah-ha, this time with success. Why Bother? Decades ago I bought several pots of...

Perching hen 5

Providing Perches Inside a Chicken Coop

Chickens feel safer when they roost off the ground, particularly while they sleep at night. Providing perches inside a chicken coop reduces the temptation that they will sleep unsafely outdoors in a tree or along a fence top. Perches are...

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How Long Garden Seeds Last in Storage

Consult three different charts on how long garden seeds last in storage and you will find three different sets of answers. That’s because the longevity of stored seed has not been definitively determined. Too much depends on variables that include...

garden vegetables 1

How to Save Garden Seeds

The method for preparing garden seeds for storage depends on whether they dry on the plant or are surrounded by moist pulp. The easiest way to start seed saving is to save garden seeds that naturally dry on the plant....

seed saving 0

Saving Garden Seeds

Judging from the number of published books on the subject, you might get the impression that saving and storing seeds from crops growing in your garden is a complicated affair. That’s certainly the impression I once had. But over the...

Coronavirus 1

Can Chickens Get Coronavirus?

While chickens can get coronaviruses, the same viruses do not infect humans. Further, we have no evidence that chickens can get the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. What is a Coronavirus? Viruses are tiny pathogens, so small that millions can travel...

squirrel pilfering strawberries

Trail Camera Catches Marauders in the Act

The first practical use we made of our motion activated Reconyx trail camera was to identify a predator that was decimating our Royal Palm turkey flock. The cam confirmed our suspicion: it was a bobcat. (The next job, of course,...

Eastern newt 2

Could a Newt Kill a Chicken?

Every now and then I run across a newt, either wandering in the backyard or curled up in some corner of the garden. Here in Tennessee I’m always delighted to spot a bright orange Eastern newt. It never occurred to...

slug 0

Preventing Deer Worm Infection in Goats

Meningeal deer worm infection requires the presence of both white-tail deer and gatropods (slugs or snails). So it stands to reason that at the top of the list of suggestions for preventing deer worm infection in goats and sheep is...