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It's been a busy fall here at OLB!

10/31/2017

So I thought things were meant to slow down in the fall. Not the story here. At least for now. Planted several bushes and trees last week as fall is the best time for planting. We had our possible first frost of the season coming in. No, the weather man was wrong. Oh well, I'm now ready for whenever it comes.

Also this fall I have been working with a church group of kiddos starting a worm bin for composting and a few cold weather plants in our garden. To follow the progress, check out this link!

Stay warm and happy gardening!
"Give a man a cabbage, feed him for a day. Teach him to garden, feed him for a lifetime!"

Young Gardeners at work

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Natural Wormers for Chickens

10/17/2017

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If you have chickens living outside in coops, your chickens probably have worms. There are several types of worms chickens can get. The best way for preventing worms would be to just routinely add natural wormers to their water.

The first natural wormer is garlic. Not only is it a natural wormer, it also enhances the immune systems and respiratory health within your flock. Some think parasites like mites, lice and ticks are not attracted to the blood of animals that regulatory eat garlic. Another good side affect, more for you and not the chickens, is that the smell of chicken manure is reduced. I'm sure some of you are wondering if the garlic will affect the flavor of the eggs. The answer to this is no. To add the garlic to your chicken's water, just break open a clove and toss a several pieces in the water dish. Remove and replace it once or twice a week. If the chickens eat it, no worries. Just add more.

Raw apple cider vinegar is also an excellent wormer. It too is good for many other things. Before you say, "yuck", know that chickens prefer water with vinegar to plain tap water. The vinegar balances the pH of the water making it a place where microbes and bacteria do not want to live. Keeping the bacteria out helps to keep the water and dish cleaner also. The antiseptic

properties of the vinegar kills the germs that cause respiratory issues. Another common condition found in chickens, caused by a parasite, is coccidia. Vinegar helps to fight this condition along with regulating your chicken's digestive systems, boosting immune system, and increasing the absorption of calcium and other minerals. Just add a table spoon of raw apple cider vinegar per gallon of water. Don't use a metal water dish as the vinegar will cause it to rust.

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New Raised Bed

10/13/2017

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Here are a few images showing the process of filling the raised bed we just added. It's a good start, but we will definitely be adding more compost items all fall and winter in preparation for the spring planting! The bed was designed from pictures of other beds we had seen. At some point, we will add two feet of hardware cloth on top of the boards. It will be attached to the corner post and top boards also to be added later. Hopefully this will be deep enough to keep the rabbits out! The chickens, probably not. As you can see, there is a lot of space to fill in this bed. It is an 8'x8' square. The beds are 3' wide and 2' deep.

After laying landscape cloth on the bottom, we begin adding limbs and branches. Okay, so we started with the trunk of a small tree!

We began with the trunk and larger branches, followed by smaller branches as we worked our way towards the top.

On top of the branches, we added about a foot of unfinished compost. The compost will continue to decompose throughout the fall and winter in this new bed. Soon we will be adding manure and more grass clippings as well.

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It's been a busy fall here at OLB!

Natural Wormers for Chickens

New Raised Bed

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