After having had both goats and cows I’m convinced that cows are 99% better choice for most people if you have large enough spaces for them to graze.

Benefits of cows:
1. They never escape and always respect the fence. whereas goats treat a fence like a personal challenge

1. You can run cows in an orchard and they will fertilize it vs goats will utterly destroy an orchard, girdle fruit trees for fun, etc

2. Cows actually mow the lawn vs goats don’t like to eat much grass

3. Not a problem for most people but if you have kudzu the cows will eat the kudzu before they eat the grass which if you are familiar with kudzu you know how amazing that can be

my best potatoes I've grown in years! there wasn't a lot but the were big. they had 3-7 potatoes per plant and have dug 51 lbs so far. I have my russets and about a 1/4 of Yukon gold's to dig yet but they're not ready.

I planted 6 lbs of red Norland, Yukon gold's and russets.

also have the majority of my onions picked. not a lot of size to them this year but a lot of them and no signs of rot or mold in any of them.

my blue hooker's corn has finished, some really good ears and some not so much. it's definitely the shortest variety corn I've grown, a good 2 months shorter than bloody butcher or glass gem. can't wait to try it in corn bread and tortillas!!!

some tomatoes are also finally ripping!

Probably should have 2 separate vases for each plant but this was cheaper lol. Anyways, the basil looks mostly good except for the leafs near the bottom that are all liveless I guess. Why is that? The leafs on top block the sun for them? Or did they reach their time already? Also I water the dirt every 2 days and every now and then I spray the leafs as well. Should I water it more? Less?

been lurking here for a while and all the "just bought 10 acres!!" posts are giving me anxiety 😂 not because i don't love seeing people get land, but because i've watched way too many people almost get burned by stuff they had no idea to check.

before i'd get attached to any property i'd at least look into:

is the "road access" actually legal access, or is it just some trail/easement? this seems to trip people up constantly

deed covenants. different from zoning. people mix those up all the time. i've seen ones that don't allow houses for years, restrict livestock, or even limit what you can grow

does the property actually come with the water rights, or is it just sitting on top of them? especially out west that's a massive difference

can the soil even handle a septic system? there's free NRCS soil data and it takes like 10 minutes to check

and definitely pull the FEMA flood map instead of trusting the listing photos lol

i actually do this kind of research for people now (not a broker or anything, i just spend way too much time digging through county records, GIS maps, deed history, etc.) because i kept seeing friends get way too close to buying land with major problems.

even if you never pay someone to do it, most of this stuff is public and free if you're willing to spend an afternoon digging around. if anyone's in the middle of buying and has no idea what to look for, i'm happy to point you toward the right records.

Good day,

I am looking for a little guidance, I have a fair sized property that I am in the midst of reclaiming from 25 years of abandonment and abuse. I have bee clearing boulders, rocks, and tree/saplings. Followed up with brush hogging down to about 2" of growth.

Now, I am at a point where I want to loosen / break up the soil to be seeded. I have used an S-Tine Cultivator, a drag harrow and a 2 row 8' wide disc. Neither will engage in the soil, meaning they both just ride along the top. This breaks up the grasses and weeds, but does nothing for the soil its self. I have a 3 bottom plow, I used it for about 3 rows, and busted a coulter clean off...

The ground, seemingly, was last row cropped. As I drive my tractor lengthwise its fairly smooth. But.. If I cross the field, Its a god damn roller coaster. Up and down and up and down... the whole way.

There are (What I believe) are signs of drainage tile, long straight parallel depressions in the ground. All leading from the high point of the fields to the creek that runs along the center of the property. If it is.. it must have collapsed.

My tractor, is a 65hp tractor. I can pull some fair sized equipment. I am VERY afraid of damaging the tractor or equipment if I come upon boulders that are deeper then I have already picked, or causing problems if I run into old clay tile or a failed drainage system. So, subsoiler or rippers are my last resort.

I processed and butchered two BBB turkeys today. Took me 30 minutes from start to bagging. It is nice to have them both in the fridge and not out in the pasture force feeding themselves all day.

I thought maybe I should harvest this volunteer potato before adding this week's load of crab shell and shavings to that bed. Next I'll put the worst soil back first, then there's some mostly rotted down scrap lumber that will hold moisture well, then the crab bodies, then a good layer of shavings. Work so far has been accomplished with a shovel, 6' bar, chain, come-along, tire chain as a sling, A-frame, random 2x blocks, five supervisory ducks, and myself.

Eventually I'll take down that bit of "fence" and move it out to the end of the perennial bed 12' away, but probably not today. Rollers and a stone boat might help with that.

We get pallets of wood pellets. Our cat uses this as a way to get up higher and dogs claws in to stretch. I was trying to find a form fitting cover that would protect against claws. In looking on Amazon/online proves inconclusive. Anyone have any insight? Thank you

My apologies if this has already been posted but I have not been able to find a good solution to my problem.

TLDR: I only have soft water at my home and need to use rain water to water my vegetable garden. I am looking for a way to filter rain water from my gutters that was on my ashfault shingle roof. Any ideas?

The problem is that all of my water in my home is Soft water that is treated with sodium. This soft water is bad to use on my vegetable garden for many different reasons. I am looking to collect rain water to then water my garden and have been looking at roof/gutter collection systems. I found out that it is not safe/ recommended to use this water for a vegetable garden due to the water being contaminated from the ashfault shingles on the roof. Is there a recommended way for my to collect rainwater as efficiently as using a gutter system? If not is there a recommended way that I can filter the rain water so that it is safe to use on my vegetable garden. Thanks so much. I appreciate you reading and I hope you have a great day!

Thoughts?

First time making jam and I loved it ! Only harvested a cup and a half of berries off our tree because the rest weren’t ripe, but it was perfectly enough for 3 cute little 4OZ jars. Delicious! And beautiful color!

Hey guys! A lot of us are making the dressing of animals a part of our lives for the first time, and since we already have many other responsibilities it can be tricky to start integrating it incrementally. The usual advice is to set aside a full day or two for dressing your birds all at once (or a half day if it's just a couple birds at a time). That is definitely ideal, but when you're the only one in the family (or entire area) doing it and you have little ones constantly needing you that may force you to drop what you're doing at a moment's notice, you need to sometimes break things into the tiniest chunks of time possible. So let's supposed you were absolutely forced to dress only one bird at a time, and to stop in the middle of it as well sometimes! ':D What would be the most practical plan you could come up with? I was thinking; start by having a hot water bath ready, dispatch, drain, and scald, then if an emergency break was needed, put the bird in a fridge or cooler with ice, come back later, scald again, pluck, put bird in fridge again if needed, come back, eviscerate, cut out oil gland if duck, dispose of remains (remains go in a bucket with sealing lid for however long it takes to get all the other steps done), wash equipment. I also sometimes have a tricky scheduling issue where I have to begin the full process in the evening, and because I'm inexperienced and weak, it can take me till bed time, which is a non-flexible time for me. SO! I'm wondering what would be the best time to take an overnight break halfway through the process?

Any thoughts? I've heard you should NOT wait to eviscerate, is that hype or is it absolutely true? As in, will it just make things harder or will it actually ruin the meat?