Go ahead, say hello... And hello to figs!

I'll be the first to admit that I am not doing a great job posting new stuff for you guys.  But I've been looking at the data and I know there are people checking up on what I'm doing here...

That said, so far I think I've only gotten two comments in the history of this blog... both of which came from friends...  SO... if you wouldn't mind, please post a comment and let me know what keeps you coming back to check things out over here at Balancing The Empire.  You never know, I just might start talking about your favorite subject a little bit more often!

Oh my lucky stars, its a fig!

On another note, this past weekend we ate our first fig from the tree's I planted this spring!  No, I dropped the ball again and didn't take a picture... but if I did, you would immediately recognize a fig that was not quite ripe!  ...I know now!  (Which reminds me of this guy...)

Anyway, this past spring I put two of these little guys in the ground, via Starkbros.com and didn't know if they were going to make it... but they did!

A Chicago Hardy Fig

As much as I don't like Illinois (political and personal liberty reasons), I had to suck it up and go with the Chicago Fig.  These guys are supposed to produce in a year or two, but for me, they produced in less than 6 months, pretty cool I think! 

Well anyway, I've been keeping an eye on them and got a little bit too excited when I saw one turning purple and picked it.  It didn't taste bad, but I think it might have tasted much better had I waited another week.  Hopefully we'll get a few more out of it before the frost hits so I can take a picture for ya!  If that doesn't work, I'll have to wait till next year and hope that I do a good enough job protecting it through the winter.

I'd point you over to walden effect, but the internet filter at work won't let me go there... so if you need a guide to protecting figs over winter, check out this guys blog... by memory, he does some fine blogging!
(https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.waldeneffect.org/20131025wrappedfig.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/New_methods_of_winter-protecting_figs/&h=431&w=575&tbnid=BjglL9efalqf0M:&docid=-84cXGdUdNT1EM&ei=gpj5Va29BcKpgwSkmpSgAg&tbm=isch&ved=0CB8QMygCMAJqFQoTCK2G3Lr8-8cCFcLUgAodJA0FJA)

Goji Berries, Another Stark Bro's Review

A few weeks back I received in the mail a package from Stark Bro's.  This is becoming a regular thing around the homestead, yet is always very exciting!  There were some Almond (here and here) and Fig tree's (here), which I'm quite excited about, a replacement pack of raspberries (I waited too long to plant them, grr!), and a replacement Reliance grape vine (here), which is doing quite well btw.  While those were all neat and nice, the plant I'm super stoked about is my Sweet Lifeberry Goji bush.

I'm hoping this is what my future will look like!

One thing I didn't read (I usually do read the directions, honestly!) this time was that potted plants are supposed to be hardened off.  This means setting them out in the sun for short periods of time, each day a little longer than the day before... yea, I didn't do that... and shortly after planting it, all the leaves fell off. Three weeks later, this little fighter is up and running!

(INSERT PICTURE OF PLANT HERE)

While that's exciting for me, the most exciting part about this whole endeavor is that I'm propagating it, successfully!  When I pulled the plant out of the pot it was growing in, there was a huge tangle of roots that had hit the pot and started to grow in circles around the plant.

Here's what it looks like when they get bigger!

Eventually what will happen is as the roots get bigger they strangle the tree/bush.  Obviously this is not desirable... but it is something you absolutely must watch out for whenever you buy a potted plant!  I've had this on some fruit trees (I got for free), blueberries as well as this Goji berry.  Most of the time the best way to handle it is to take a knife and cut the roots by running the blade up and down the root bundle at a depth of about an inch, cutting off all the circling roots.  In this case, however, I simply ripped off a bunch of roots, set them aside, and stuck the plant in the ground.  This is where it get's exciting for me!

When I ripped the roots off the bottom of the root ball, there was at least one stem that had grown up and out of the pot and had leaves on it.  This one went straight into a pot with potting soil in it... and is currently taking off like a rocket!  (I gave it a good bit of babying to be honest)

Rocket is a relative term, but it's amazing to see the growth compared to when I first put this in the pot!

A few other roots looked promising as well... and a few were just a gamble with nothing to loose.  There was one big root without any hint of anything that looked like it wanted to grow upwards... it got shoved into a pot and is just now peeking up out of the ground... er, it used to be.

A few inches tall, but growing none the less!

More than one of the plants I've started came out of the pot looking like nothing more than a bundle of roots...

Nodes of growth

In the picture above you can see a root that I pulled off the bottom of the original pot.  At first glance it's just a root and I normally wouldn't think anything of it.  HOWEVER, I had a similar root I just stuck in some dirt just to see what would happen, and it grew!  Look again closely where the red arrows are pointing towards and you can see how there is just a tiny little nub of growth on the root.  If that is close enough to the surface and kept moist enough, that should turn into another plant for me... score another for Team Clinton!

Just poking out of the ground...

The picture above is what those little growth nubs should look like any day now.  This is the other root I tossed into the dirt and now I have, possibly, two new plants growing...  this is kinda fun!

In conclusion, it looks like my single plant from Start Bro's has turned into 5, 6, maybe 7 plants and counting.  The moral of the story is a little cliche, but that doesn't change the truth now does it?

Just give it a shot... you might fail, but you might not!  The only way you'll succeed is to try and you'll only fail if you never try.

Hopefully next time I can show you how I was able to get my Bush Cherries to root out... and let me know if you've ever tried something like this! 

UPDATE

I now have about ten plants from the one I purchased.  When I planted them, they were all doing awesome with lush green leaves... that is slowly changing to a yellow leafless plant and I suspect it is due to the acidic soil that is in my yard.  You may want to make sure your soil is a little more on the alkaline side when you plant your plants, or add crushed oyster shells to the mix.

June 2014

This is a little late getting out... sorry!

 JUNE

Well that sure flew by!  I'll try to start from the top...

Bee's

For a couple years now I thought it would be neat to keep bees.  So when I saw an add on Craigslist for bee keeping equipment, I jumped on it!  $80 later I came home with two books (that I could have gotten on Amazon or half.com for less - I have to learn to be a better haggler), some lemon grass oil (for attracting swarms to a hive box), a smoker, a hat and a veil.  In all, I don't know that I saved a lot of money... well, yea, I saved a decent amount.  Oh, I also got a hive tool or two.

With all that said, I've been doing a lot of research on Top Bar Hives.  They are not your typical commercial hives and they have some benefits and drawbacks.  I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks and I'm now hoping to build two (Tanzian or Kenyan? - Oh the choices... most likely a Kenyan) hives in the next year... then I have to find some bee's to go in them!  First things first...

Resources for Bee's: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-bar_hive - A great article honestly!
http://www.buzzaboutbees.net/
http://www.backyardhive.com/
http://biobees.com/
http://www.beginningbeekeeping.com/topbarhivebeekeeping.html
http://www.bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm

Garden / Vineyard / Orchard

Things seem to be in full swing here, although the peppers are off to a slow start.  I got all my rhubarb planted and it's all up and growing!  (That's pretty good as the first year I got 1 or 2 of 10 plants to grow).  Stark Bro's even sent me two extra plants, so thank you for that!  Oh, I also have three wild asparagus plants growing around my yard... that's kinda cool!

I also planted my rhubarb - this deserves a quick review...  When I planted some at my parents house a few years back, it came as three spindly little roots about an inch around and 3 inches long... one was rotten already and the other two looked pretty lame.  My rhubarb from Stark Bro's came in about 4 inches diameter and 6 inches long.  I even took a shovel to one and split it to make three plants and they are all growing!

A few weeks back I planted the following:
2 Peach Trees, 2 Pear Trees, 2 more Apple Trees and 1 Sweet Cherry Tree (the other is coming in the fall - they had sold out before I made my order and didn't update the web page).  The good news - they are all budding out and growing!  In comparison to the trees I bought from gurneys, these things are doing great!  (Gurneys did give me a substantial refund by the way - I think it's noteworthy, although I'm a huge Stark Bro's fan now)

This pas weekend I put the FOUR grape vines in the ground that I got for free from Tractor Supply... I know, it's kinda strange... but I'm excited about growing my own grapes now too!  I have all sorts of plans in my head for what I can do with them.  I have two Concord Grape vines to make juice and jelly, a Niagra for eating and I can't remember the other.  I am a little worried about the Reliance grape vine I got from Stark Bro's however, as it's not yet budding out.

I'm also getting ready to build... drum roll...

The Planet WhizbangT-post Grape Trellis

Hopefully I'll have pics of that soon! The only difference for me is that the 1" Conduit comes in 10' lengths, so I'll have 10' spans between posts, unlike Herrick Kimball's 8' recommended length.

I also planted 3 Primocane Red Raspberries a few weeks back that have yet to show any life sign... so I may have to make do on Stark Bro's 1 Year Satisfaction policy.

Chickens

Good news - I haven't killed any more of them!  I also, through some roundabout ways, determined that the first chicken had "Water Belly".  This is apparently a relatively common event with chickens, especially fast growing meat chickens.

Here is a quote from a great site to learn more about it:

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"Water Belly refers to the fluid accumulated in the abdominal cavity as a consequence of heart failure. The disease is more scientifically known as pulmonary hypertension syndrome and this disease may or may not actually end up as what is known as ascites."
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Hopefully it isn't a problem in a large number of birds... I'm butchering in less than two weeks!  Speaking of which, those guys are getting a little bit more cantankerous to those ladies in there... not to mention working on crowing every morning... I'm sure the neighbors love it! 

An update... Wow, it's been a while!

At this point is really hard to tell where I left off.  So I guess I'll start with the most recent activities an work my way backwards.

  

Any guess what I've been up to?

 ...Or maybe I'll jump around a little bit.

Dehydrator Blues

What you see above is the back panel to my Excalibur 9-tray dehydrator.  This thing has been a champ and I'm still quite pleased with it... but like all things electrical, sometimes they don't work right.

My wife and I had gone to the grocery store recently.  Being the type of person I am, we both always make a point to swing by the discount shelf to see if there is anything we like to eat on sale.  Well this time there were banana's on sale.  I bought a bunch!  When we got home and the kids were napping, I sat down and started slicing.  Before loading them into the dehydrator, I spray both sides with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown... they also dry better if I do.  I loaded them up, turned on the dehydrator and went about my life as normal.  The next day I came home and guess what... no heat (that means no dehydrating)!

So what you see above is the guts with the thermostat removed.  I contacted Excalibur (www.drying123.com) and they promptly (sort of) sent me a new thermostat and a new diode after I paid for shipping.   Then I put the banana's in the freezer and waited for the parts to come in.  I didn't do anything with the diode, so now it's sitting on a shelf by the old thermostat... which I played with and think it might work again... maybe I have a backup now?  More testing for sure!

The thermostat - the diode bridges the gap between the two screws on the right, between the fan blades.

Well I replaced the thermostat and now it works... and the banana's are still in the freezer.  I'll have to get to that soon!

SWALES

What a rototiller can do to a backyard...

 
So a bunch of weeks back my neighbor graciously accepted payment to help me roto-till my garden and also helped me by tilling up some contour lines in my backyard.   Then it became my job to turn those paths into swales.  The idea is that it is perfectly level and catches all the water run-off, holding it until it evaporates or soaks into the soil.  This helps reduce the need for watering things on the downhill side... which in my case means fruit trees and other food producers... like green beans :)  (We ran out of space in our garden this year.)

But anyway, this weekend my parents came up to help me celebrate my birthday and we, in general, had a great time.  One thing that I particularly enjoyed was my father's help digging the top swale.  Not only did we get it all dug and built, but I have found over the years that the best way to have a conversation with my dad is to take away the distractions, provide work (that doesn't require a lot of thought) to occupy one side of the brain and let the conversation occupy the other side of the brain.  This was one of those times when we were able to have a good conversation... the topic wasn't
too meaningful, but I still enjoyed working with my dad.

A swale

I don't know if you can see it, but basically I made a level ditch in my backyard... a fairly big one too!  This has taken a lot of work with a rake, pulling the dirt from the roto-tilled section towards the downhill side to create a berm of dirt... shallow enough that I can drive the mower over it without scabbing the lawn and ruining the blades.  But dad, being the very intelligent person he is, or maybe it's because it's the tool he had on hand, picked up a shovel and started digging it out.  Needless to say, it would have taken me a long time to finish up the first one without him.

CHICKENS

Those birds are getting big!  However, they are not immune to harm.  This was evidenced on Monday night while I was moving the chicken tractor back up towards the house.  Real quick - they have learned to move to the front when I move the tractor, as that's where the fresh grass is... but since the made it to the back of the yard, I had to reverse directions.  Well I ran over one of them while moving it and it died (I've run over a couple that made it just fine).  Well I fired up the turkey fryer, scalded it at 148°F (Thank you Herrick Kemball).  Anyway, I got to the step in Herrick's instructional where you remove the intestines where I ran into a problem.  Step 7 goes over opening up the back end and states the following:

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"Please Note: When you cut into the bird’s body cavity, no liquid should come out. If liquid (i.e. yellow-colored water) does come pouring out of the opening, the bird is sick. Throw it away. I have had this happen on two birds in ten years."

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Well guess what I found?

It died prematurely... and ended up in the compost... bummer!

When I cut it open, not only did the yellow liquid come out, but there were two very full sack's of it (see arrows in picture above).  I weighed it after plucking and it came out at 2-1/2 lbs... I guess it wasn't too much of a loss, but now I can't help but be afraid the rest of them are sick!  Still no word on what this sickness is, but I'm hoping I don't ever see it again!

Well here's an older picture (3 weeks ago) if anybody is curious what the inside of the chicken tractor looks like.  I'll have to get more pictures on my pen drive... blogging is hard when you are away from your home computer and camera!

Not quite old enough to use the big feeder!

 

UPDATE!

I got in contact with a nearby butcher who informed me this is called "Water Belly" and is quite common among fast growing meat birds.  My research says there's not way to cure it as it is a result of the cardiovascular system not being able to keep up with high blood pressure forcing liquid out into the body through the liver.  Can anybody verify this?

BIRTHDAY!

As I said, we celebrated my birthday recently.  My wonderful wife got me a new wooden handled, assembled in America (that's the best it comes these days, and she had to look hard to get even that!) digging shovel for fathers day and a 5 gallon crock for my birthday.  We can now make pickles 5 gallons at a time!  Yea... that's something I can get excited about!

Also, yesterday I went over to www.Starkbros.com and took advantage of their end of season sale.  I spent a good bit of money with the hope that I won't need to take them up on their 1 year promise of satisfaction, but feel good knowing its there if the plants die!  So yea, that was a good chunk of birthday money (thank you parents / in-laws / grandparents!)... but I got the following:

Two Peach Trees
Two Pear Trees
Two Sweet Cherry Trees
A Reliance grape vine (seedless) - great for making raisins or eating
Rhubarb
Asperagus
Red Rasberries

I highly recommend you guys get over there as they have some AWESOME prices right now!  I know a few of my buddies who are moving soon or have just moved... I can't think of a better investment than some fruit trees!

Okay, I'm late getting back to work.  Take care!