Scoop The Poop.

Even with the major rain storm we had yesterday the garden is doing well. The corn went "a little bit sideways" with the strong wind gusts but stood back up as the ground dried and the raised bed began to firm up. The garden plants benefited from the extra water because they are spending the summer in the scorching Florida sun. It broke 90 degree's today and that was a bit frustrating as I had to work the duck pen this afternoon. The raised vegetable bed is full and many of my smaller plants need to be moved to another bed. My husband hasn't made the additional beds yet but they should be finished by the end of the weekend. The duck pen was getting mucky and I couldn't wait for the raise beds to be made so my son and I shoveled the pen out and set the pen waste (mud) out in piles near the garden to bake in the sun. After a few weeks these new mounds can be used to fill more garden beds and fertilize the plants. I am really excited about the prospect of no longer having to buy soil and manure. The rabbit and goat manure that I have been using to fertilize the garden has worked better than I imagined it would. I was concerned that the PH might have been wrong in the untreated waste, but letting it bake in the sun for a few weeks has seemed to resolved any issues I might have otherwise had.

Another phone call from Cassie came in this evening. "Turn on the TV,  TLC, watch Extreme Couponing!" A half an hour later and after about 30 texts we decided we are going to try it, together of course. We have no intention of becoming "Food Hoarders" or stocking a fall out shelter but there is definitely money to be saved in coupons. So we are going to start a coupon blog, collect websites and get ourselves two of those cute little binders with the cellophane pages so we can begin to piss off everyone standing behind us in the checkout line at Walmart. Obviously that's not why were doing it but I already know that's what's going to happen. Even on the show with the cameras clearly visible so the other shoppers knew something was going on, they still made faces and sighed when they saw the ladies reach into their hand bags and pull out a 3 to 4 inch thick stack of coupons.

Well that's today's news from Scott Farm.  Have A Good Night!

The Even Swap

About three months ago we purchased some young Silver Sebright Bantam Chickens through Craigs List. The birds were nice, clean and well cared for. I thought they would have made a great 4-H project for my twin 10 year old girls.  I was not prepared for what occurred when the chickens finally arrived. My girls were afraid of them! The chickens were obviously not used to having children near or around their pen; they were flighty and made all kinds of racket, they were not at all like our Buff Orpingtons. Over time they settled down a bit but the girls still didn't like them. The purchase was costly $12 per chicken, and so we made the best out of a bad situation and turned them loose with the goats (Free Range - to an extent). The hen started laying last month and I was collecting her eggs and putting them into the incubator but none of the eggs have reached maturity so far (about 21 days) I noticed some of the other chickens started bullying our little Sebright Bantams and we decided it was time for them to go. I posted an Ad on Craigs list for $10 each and waited. Nothing Happened. This morning I took the ad down and edited it. This time the ad read for Sale or Trade. The ad wasn't even up 15 minutes before Jack called.  To make a long story a bit shorter He took all 3 of my Sebrights and every Sebright egg I had maturing in the incubator and I got 4 Altex does for my rabbitry.  It was a good trade and we both walked away from the deal happy.  The only downside, I have to get my husband to build more hutches on his next day off.   The rabbits are fine temporarily in the 3 tier cage on my back porch but that's not an optimum situation.  So if you count Luther who's currently "In Service" at my friend Cassie's house, I'm up to 10! I only need a few more to get things started off just right!