You know we're always up for anything tropical, so when we saw this pastel bridal shower with tropical elements included, we wanted an invite.
A couple of Sundays ago I went to a goat workshop at Ohio's first Earthship. The place is called Blue Rock Station. It is about 2 hours away from me. A earthship is a house that is made out of old tires, recycled trash, and is half way covered by the earth. Collects it's own water from it's roof and saves it in a cistern. The only windows that it has all face south to collect the sun's rays to warm the house in the winter, and the window are angled in such a way the it blocks a lot of the sun's rays in the summer to help keep it cool. It is a very self sufficient house. Well they were having a goat workshop on using herbs and natural thing to help keep your goat healthy. The workshop also showed how to make some types of cheese. It was a very interesting workshop I learned a few new things about taking care of a goat. I took lots of pictures so I will give you all a tour of the place. This is the owner Annie, with her goat Tudy. The goat is a French Alpine breed. This is a picture of the goat barn, where we did the first half of the workshop. I learned a lot about what helps keeps a goat healthy. I really enjoyed this part of the day. After we were done in the barn Annie's husband gave us a quick tour of the property, so that Annie could go down to there house and get the second part of our workshop ready for us. As you can see it was a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining and the red buds and other trees were blooming. They raise lamas, goats and chickens on the little homestead. This is their pop bottle greenhouse. When they do a project on the property they always try to use recycled thing to build them. They also had a solar heated shower, and a composting toilet. This is their chicken chalet (chicken coop). It is made out of all straw bale construction, and designed to collect all the water that the chickens may need. See the rain barrels on the side of the building. This is the front of the earthship. Inside those doors was where we had our cheese making class. All the doors except for the two front darker colored doors where put in as windows, and they were recycled from houses that were being remodeled. It is made of a straw bale and tire earthen wall construction. The small holes and one large hole above the door was actually made of colored glass bottles. And from the inside it made a beautiful stain glass kind of thing. You will see what I'm talking about a little bit later, because I have put up a picture a little bit lower in the post taken from the inside of that room. I'm almost sure that everything that they used in building this house was recycled or given to them. This is also in the front of the house. See how the window are angled to catch the winter's sunlight, and angled in such away to keep out most of the summer's sunlight. At the very end of the building is a solar water heater. Here is Annie again. She is showing how to put the cheese curds in a press. Before we had our cheese classes we were invited to partake of some English tea and cookies, and to try some goats cheeses the she had made ahead of time. This is that picture that I had talked about earlier in this post. See how it looks like a stain glass window in a way. The straw bale walls are covered in a stucco made out of mud, straw, and sand. This picture was taken a little farther into their house. The main part of their house was very open. the kitchen and the main living room are connected together. See how the sun comes in and lights up the whole room. See how the ceiling is slanted in a V shape. That is so the rain water will collect at the bottom of the V and run into their cistern. That wall behind the ladies talking was made out of old tires pack full with clay soil, then stuccoed over. This is Annie and I. In her living area. That wood burning stove is the only thing that heat their whole house. The wall behind us is another wall that is made out of tires and stuccoed over. I had a very good day of visiting and learning. I will be inviting Annie to come to my house sometime this June for a 18Th century tea party in my garden. Well hope you all enjoyed the post Kelly
Discover 9 natural chicken deworming plants for your backyard flock. Safely promote chicken health with these effective and eco-friendly options.
Natural Chicken Care and Chicken Keeping, Care for chickens in a natural, organic and holistic way. Methods based on chicken behavior and biology.
Looking for something to satisfy your green thumb AND fill your belly this winter? Look no further than sunflower microgreens!
Read on for how to keep snakes out of the coop, why golf balls aren't a good trap, and how to work with nature to reap the potential benefits of snakes.
Jamie says: "Quick and easy with crunchy veg, this stir-fry is a real winner"
By Leigh - Yesterday when my family went to the grocery store, I spied a neat little seasonal special - popular soft drinks in little, round bottles that can be used as Christmas tree ornaments. And of course just like any other normal chicken obsessed wacko person, my first thought was, "Chicken Toy!" This project is about as inexpensive as it gets and only takes a few minutes to create. This is the perfect boredom buster for penned chickens... though I have to say, my free-range flock has been playing with their toy for hours now! Step 1: Empty the bottle and rinse thoroughly. You can actually make this kind of toy with any of the single-serving plastic soda bottles, plastic peanut butter jars, plastic mayonnaise jar, squeezable honey bear bottle, etc. - I just thought this round one would be even more fun to use. Step 2: Take the plastic outer wrap off of the bottle. The neat thing about these little seasonal bottles is that the outer wrap has a perforation which makes it very easy to remove. Step 3: Use a 1/4" drill bit to drill about 5-10 holes into the bottle. Before you submit your project to the Nailed-It meme base, just know that only the coolest people will end up with a mashed monster of a project at this stage. OK - so I'm not Martha Stewart... When your inner creative genius hands you squished lemons, find a stick and poke them into lemonade! I found a stick with a part of a branch coming off the end which gave it a bit of an "L" shape. I inserted it into my squashed mess of a DIY project and got things straightened out a bit. It doesn't have to be perfect! After all, you are going to throw it into your chicken yard. ***Update - some wonderful folks have commented to suggest filling about 3/4ths of the bottle with water and freezing it prior to drilling (be sure to leave the cap off) - the ice inside will prevent the bottle from being crushed when you drill the holes. Thank you, readers!*** Step 4: Put some scratch and some dry feed into your chicken toy... And let the fun begin! So - I spent $1.00 on a cute little round drink bottle and turned it into a toy that my chickens have not left alone since I put it outside about 7 hours ago (as of the writing of this article). That's not a bad return-on-investment if you ask me! When one chicken looses interest, another comes right up and starts rolling it around until treats fall out. This toy is currently about 50 feet from where I originally set it down in the yard. The chickens can see the treats inside the bottle which keeps them trying to find a way to get those treats out. So if you are worried about your flock not having enough to do, give this a try. I'm sure your chickens will love it as much as mine do. - Leigh Do you like what you see? Please subscribe to the Natural Chicken Keeping blog: Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner And keep your eyes open - we'll be doing giveaways throughout the month of December! Be sure to enter - you could win some really great prizes! *
It's summer, and boy is it hot. There's very little escape from the heat, which is breaking records worldwide. Now, we know you're hot, but how about your chickens? Are they suffering? How do you keep chickens cool when the summer heat won't let up? Well, we have answers to all these questions in this
Essential oils for chickens: Safely and effectively repel insects, soothe injuries, and support healthy immune function for your laying hens.
Do you want to build a duck house or coop for your new ducks? Here are 37 of the best free DIY duck house plans we've collected from all over the net.
Lineolated parakeet description, colors, lifespan, as pet, housing, behavior, feeding, care, health problems, cost, video, images
Ready...set...go! The 2017 Gift Guide for Crazy Chicken People. Even the crazy chicken people in our lives need the perfect gift this holiday season.
This was the house we originally used for 3 Indian Runner ducks. We purchased a dog house kit from Lowe's. Purchased some cedar boards to make a door along with a pair of hinges and a lock. Completed house, with added light, door and lock...
Bird Week: What to know about companion birds - KSTP.com 5 Eyewitness News and More Parrot News Window treatment protects the lives of birds | Binghamton News & More Rescue News Shop by category here ~ Click to find whats in each category
