Several of my friends (and commentors on my blog) have asked questions about straw bale gardening – so here it is: straw bale gardening the Ranting About Rectangles way! To start with, straw bale gardening is just a different kind of container gardening. It appeals to people who can not – or do not want… Read More What is straw bale gardening?
I got my straw bales! Yippee! This year I’m trying a straw bale garden, and the first ingredient of that is – obviously – bales of straw. Here they are sitting in a stack in my back yard. There are 20 bales there. Added to the four I had already, I will soon have a… Read More The beginnings of my straw bale garden
I found this image the other day, and was struck by how true it is. Success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. So in addition to having to decide if you have accomplished your aim or purpose – you have to know exactly what that aim or purpose is! In my… Read More Defining success
Listeria has claimed the lives of more than half my rabbits. A nasty disease, it can kill within 48 hours of the first symptoms. The cure is massively massive doses of antibiotics, and only works in a fraction of infected animals. It works so quickly that in the first two rabbits to succumb to it,… Read More Listeria sucks! A bad word for a bad disease.
I was never good at math. The times tables baffle me. I know it’s just straight memorization, but all those repetitive numbers just get jumbled in my head. I can usually do one or two problems, but give me one of those speed tests where you have to solve 100 problems in a set amount… Read More Algebra in farming
The next time someone asks me “What do you do all day, since you don’t work?” I think I’m going to blow a gasket. Then, when the steam stops rolling out of my ears, I’ll make them read this: Honest-food.net…the imperative of protein What a wonderful, well-written article about the value of processing your own… Read More For those of us who don’t “work”…
Brrrr! It’s cold here today! There is a storm warning, and the sheen of white on the ground isn’t frost, it’s ice! Of course, it’s winter and all to be expected. But winter brings more trouble to a farm than just a low thermometer. Bedding for animals becomes necessary. Rabbits live on wire floors which become… Read More The troubles with winter
The dream was to raise Angora rabbits, pluck their wool, spin it into yarn, and sell it. And rake in the money. After all, Angora fur sells for $6 – $8 per ounce! I stumbled across a purebred French Angora doe for $30. She quickly produced an equally purebred litter of eight kits. I fought… Read More Even best laid plans must have room to change
In high school a friend and I had a saying to help us remember something in English Literature class. It was “We be tillers of the soil, we be diggers of the earth. We be dirt farmers!” What it was intended to help us remember I have no idea – the phrase is stuck in… Read More I am a dirt farmer
Compost is wonderful. I can think of almost no other tool I’d rather have around my homestead. It beats wheelbarrows, hammers, even my favorite cooking pot. If I did not have compost, I would have a more expensive garbage bill. If I did not have compost, I would have a more expensive chicken feed bill.… Read More The power of compost
