Updated the Gardening and Rabbits pages. I don’t always mention when I do, so check back often.

Gardens are doing well and spring is well on its way. The mango tree is looking like it will be another bumper crop, as long as we don’t get any nasty wind like we did two years ago. I’ve ordered some moringa seeds to serve a dual purpose of food and a fence. It is supposed to grow well in poor soil, and I have plenty of that! Peppers are already coming in, though are being crowded by all the volunteer tomato plants. If you are local and want some tomato plants, email me, they are yours for free! No guarantee on what they will produce, but what do you expect for free?

Ducks are almost fully grown, but have a couple more months before they start to lay. The frizzles are about 4 months old, and should start laying in a month or so. Since I’ve gone Paleo, the four egg-laying hens cannot keep up with my consumption. I NEED those other egg-layers to start! Any locals looking to trade some of your egg laying hens for some of my rabbit(s), let me know!

Quail are starting to lay more consistently, and I’ll be firing up the incubator as soon as I start getting 3-4 eggs per day from them. I’ll stockpile quail eggs at room temperature for about a week, then put them all into the incubator at the same time. I’ve had about a 90% hatch rate doing it this way. It takes 17 days to hatch, then 6-8 weeks to reach full size. This is a little faster than the rabbits for grow-out times, but yield less in weight. They have the benefit of producing eggs though, so until I start raising Easter meat rabbits, I’ll keep the quail 🙂

Still no forward movement on solar or tilapia. I need to get a deep-cycle battery to do the solar, and for the tilapia, I need a large (100+ gallons, 200+ is better) container that my wife won’t notice until AFTER I get my first fish harvest. An IBC tote (see pic on right) would work well….anyone have leads, let me know.

I need to install shutters for one exterior door for the upcoming hurricane season. I have a favor owed to me for the needed materials, just need to make time. Also need to go over my generators to make sure all are in top running condition. A small window A/C unit would be a good addition for hurricane season as well, just in case.

I may have to start watering the lawn some, just to keep some grass growing for the animals to forage. I want to let them be my mowers, not have to cause more work for myself. Watering a lawn just to cut it seems rather silly to me, but if I can convert the tall grass into more eggs, I’m all for it!

I’ll be making some more appearances at Green Earth Survival School in the near future. I’m also looking into getting Green Deane here locally for a wild edibles class. Still trying to decide where to have the class. Anyone interested in joining for a local class, let me know, and I’ll keep you in the loop. Cost will be about $30 per person.

That’s it for the update. Peace.

db