Morels up in Erie #wildmushrooms
Tag Archives: homesteading
Pruning the trees
In Erie PA in January to get a sunny 44 deg day with no snow means we have chance to prune the fruit trees and grapes without a snowsuit. After the January we had 44 is tee shirt weather for me. All the kids helped and even the chicken got in on it. Great to be out in the sun.
My daughter (13) doing a swan hair pin.
Have not posted much this summer, too much work. I did do some Smithing for the camp fire pit. Camp fires are a magical thing.
In Erie PA in January to get a sunny 44 deg day with no snow means we have chance to prune the fruit trees and grapes without a snowsuit. After the January we had 44 is tee shirt weather for me. All the kids helped and even the chicken got in on it. Great to be out in the sun.
A Buddy got me a railroad spike to make him a knife. This is my first attempt though I watched a bunch of videos, so I had a good idea what to do. There is not enough carbon in the spikes to keep a good edge but hardened it the best I could, and I got it shave. Even if it will not last.
First spike knife
A Buddy got me a railroad spike to make him a knife. This is my first attempt though I watched a bunch of videos, so I had a good idea what to do. There is not enough carbon in the spikes to keep a good edge but hardened it the best I could, and I got it shave. Even if it will not last.
Learning curve… I spent an hour on a leaf hook that should take 15 min, and messed it up in the last step. Leaf cracked and almost fell off So now I know not to over work scrap steel or it will crack. I wish I had picture of all my fails when trying new things. I think it would cool to show the kids. TV and youtube make it seem that people get things on the first try. That may happen for some but most of us have to screw it up a couple times before we have something close to a success…..I hung it anyway it will be a good memory.
Chicken feeder
This is my second shot at this feeder the chickens did not like the first one and it was ugly. So here are the lessons learned.
1. Melt the holes in the tub. If you just cut them in the plastic has a tendency to crack. Also too big is ok, too small and the plastic will crack. You can fill the gaps with a little hot glue if the pvc is loose.
2. Cut a 4" 90 in half do not use entire 90 or 2 street 45’s. This assumes your chickens are as picky as myn are.
3. Cut card board to slope the bottom. This is optional but really helps if the feed gets low.
This one works well and cuts down on lost feed dramatically.
Grape rescue
When I moved in three years ago there was an ugly bush in the back. As I began to cut it down I noticed there was some wire and posts hiding in the bush. Finally I was able to see that it was the remains of a grape vine. I have four others on the property all different so I wanted to see what this one was. The first year all I did was remove the bush so it produced nothing, but I was able to find some heathy new growth over the winter so I pruned it hard and re strung the wires. The year after that it produced a small crop. The grapes were a concord but I had to leave them on until really late in the season almost to frost or the were not any good. Ended up loosing a lot to rot and fungus during the wait. I pruned it again over winter and finally had a decent vine. Last year again I go only a small crop but the grapes were good. I pruned it again this spring and I would say after three years the vines are back to good production. There are a lot of grapes and they look great I actually had to thin out this year. There are plenty for jelly and grape juice. So really I spent about 10 hours spread out over four years at my leisure to get back a forgotten grape vine. I have been bringing back apple trees and berries bushes for the last four years with varying success, and the locational massive fail, but think the grapes are my favorite.
erieforage 