For those with a thrifty attitude a good chance to have something for a little work is coming. During halloween lots of people buy a pumpkin to decorate. A lot of these people don’t see a pumpkin as a source of food, and when halloween is over they discard that pumpkin.
I have started asking friends that paint pumpkins for halloween to let me have their pumpkins after they are done with them. I clean the paint and can these pumpkins. I even pick some pumpkins off the corner that were destined for the landfill. The process of canning pumpkins is easy, and the results are much better than the commercial canned pumpkin. We did a side by side taste test comparing several pies that were the same except the filling and everyone picked the home canned pumpking vs the commercial product.
Almost any pumpkin can be used to provide pie filling or to flavor items like pumpkin bread and muffins. We have not noticed much of a difference between the taste of pie pumpkins and giant pumpkins used as decoration. The only ones we avoid are the warty pumpkins, which are very hard to cut and process.
Even the cut jack-o’lantern pumpkins can have a use. I feed them to my chickens, who eat them to the rind. The remains can be composted. Chickens are happy to make use of an otherwise wasted resource.
Don’t forget about the seeds either, they are my favorite part of the pumpkin. My family will devour a large amount of pumpkin seads before they even cool down after coming out of the oven.
While I like growing pumpkins I don’t bother planting many as I can have all I want after halloween. I bet anyone out there could also have as many as they wanted with just a couple requests or even an ad on a local craigslist or your local stores ad post area.
On my small farm I use a no till two row planter. I space my rows 30 inches apart so that my tractors can drive between the rows when I come back to cultivate. The process of cultivating is tilling up the ground between the rows but leaving several inches untouched where the row of plants are.
AC Two Row Planter
In conventional row crops they will spray down the field with a herbicide to prevent or kill any weeds from growing between the rows. I don’t agree with that approach and cultivate between my rows to keep the weeds under control. Before the reliance on chemicals everyone used to cultivate.
Enter the PVC chicken tractor that is 27″ wide and 10′ long. The perfect deminsion to fit between my rows.The PVC chicken tractor keeps the chickens right where I want them. Using the scorched earth practice of leaving the chickens in one area too long any weed inside the chicken tractor is toast. As an added benefit the soil is fertilized and areated.
While I will probably not have enough chickens to cultivate all my row crops in this fashion, it is a great tool for the garden and small field. While I have used chickens many times to prepare beds for planting, I think this is an equally good use of chicken power. I have stocked the chicken cultivator with four roosters during the testing phase.
The cultivator I built for testing doesn’t have nest boxes, a roost, or even a door (besides the feed door). I wasn’t sure how well it would work, and almost everything going into its construction was a used or scrounged component. The chicken wire is from the original PVC chicken tractor, which got new wire when it was remodeled this year. The coop is again covered in the vinyl panel from the Original PVC chicken tractor. I spent less than $20 on the cultivator, with all new materials I bet the price would still be well under $100.
The chicken cultivator tractor has all the standard features I build into my tractors. It has the fenced off and elevated feed bowl area with a door to add feed. Eyes and a carabiner clip keep the feed door closed. The chickens are watered using a length of 2″ PVC that drops down into the coop and is capped. One nipple waterer has been added to the center of the cap, and the 2″ tube exits the back of the coop and goes straight up like a chimney, which is used as a water tower. I use a cap as a lid on the end of the pipe coming out the back of the tractor. The tube holds one gallon of water, which will last the roosters a couple days in hot weather.
So does it work? I have tested this design for a month, and have not only been satisfied with its feasability, I am excited about its possibilities. I plan on building several more, and the only question remaining for me is how much ground can one chicken powered cultivator keep clear?
Row of Smoke Signals Popcorn Before Cultivation
Chicken Powered Cultivation
I want to have at least three of these ready for next spring. In the meantime I am going to research if something will work better than chickens, or what breed of chicken is the best at scorching earth.
Chicken Cultivated Row
Since part of my garden gets mulched, I only have a need for the chicken cultivators in the part I plant with the two row planter. One cultivator could probably keep that area clear. I also want to try the PVC Cultivator on some Larger fields outside of the garden.
Row of Smoke Signals Popcorn Before CultivationAfter Cultivation
My next post will be a supplies list and general building instructions for the PVC Chicken Tractor Cultivator. I am currently working on the post and should have it ready to publish in a week. I am also going to do a youtube video on the PVC Chicken Cultivator this fall.
After two months of work on the new house my wife could wait no longer. We decided to move into the second story of the new house and continue work on the downstairs. While a small or medium size house in most peoples opinion it feels every bit a mansion to us. In order to distinguish the new place from the old we call the new house the farm or farm house and the old property the sawmill.
Moving the Ultimate PVC Chicken Tractor (New World)
Side by side comparison of the two PVC chicken tractors
For three years we lived in a very small one bedroom trailer, our half of the duplex on 20 acres. Our new home is more than four times the size of that trailer. It has plenty of space for our family, with a sizable kitchen and a root cellar. While not a real mansion by any means, the new farm house will make a great home.
While my original goal was to have some small fields of row cropland, and a large garden with the assorted critters like chickens and a few cattle, my perspective has changed and plans have expanded with the addition of the new farm. I will grow my herd of Dexter cattle until the holding capacity of the farm is met. I currently get most of my hay from share cutting, so there is enough property for what I consider I sizable herd of Dexter cattle as I don’t depend on my property to provide hay, only grazing ground.
At the same time I am building the Dexter herd I will be experimenting with my form of row cropping with the eventual goal being to bring my own organic chicken feed to market. As I have invested in antique machinery, the only thing missing is time. It will take me several years to build up to that point, but the ball is already rolling. The 20 acre sawmill will provide several small fields of row crop land while I work out the kinks.
On a side note the new house opens up some potential ways to live better and save money. The house was built in about 1880 according to the seller and others I have talked with. The house is currently sided with vinyl siding and from the outside it’s age doesn’t show. It is obvious the plumbing was added at a later date, and the bathroom was cut out of a huge kitchen. The house has a medium size root cellar, the opening to which used to be on the outside, but has since had a room built around it.
The root cellar was something I have wanted for a long time. One completed shelf in the root cellar held all my canned goods. There is enough room for four more shelves the same size. It is the perfect environment for my canned goods, and lets me expand my storage of home grown goods.
The house has been retrofitted with central heat and air. Although the propane tank is empty, and the AC isn’t working. It’s okay, as I don’t plan on using either. I had bought a central wood furnace last year to install in the duplex, it has been moved into the mud room in the farm house. I will be working on installing it this fall.
AC isn’t necessary in a well designed home. While it does get warm in the house by proper planning I have kept the indoor temperature well under the outdoor temperature. I have had a good test through the heat wave we have had. With temperatures from 98 to 100 the house never went over 90. Not bad considering some key components like curtains and completely functioning windows are absent. When everything is fixed it should be livable through some pretty hot Missouri weather.
The strategy for keeping the farm house cool is pretty simple. While the air is cooler during the night the downstairs windows of the farm house are opened letting in cool outside air. The hot air is sucked up the staircase and out the second story windows with the help of some fans. When morning comes the staircase door is shut when the outside temperature passes the inside temp. The windows are closed in the downstairs and ceiling fans provide air movement. There are some vents in the ceiling downstairs to allow hot air to escape to the second story, and fans are left going in the second story moving the air through. The second story is pretty much abandoned until the evening when it cools down, and we return upstairs to sleep.
Living without AC in a trailer is rough. I have done it, but the poor design with no second story or attic to buffer the sun makes for a hot tin shed. Trailers have there place, but living without AC can be challenging in one. I forgot how much of a difference a well designed old house can be in warm weather.
I was in Walmart’s garden section yesterday looking for a garden hose splice. While looking I noticed the Scarecrow motion activated sprinkler. Until that time I was unaware of this contraptions existence.
The Scarecrow is a water sprinkler with a built in motion sensor. When the motion sensor detects movement the sprinkler is activated, chasing away the pest. The Scarecrow runs on a 9v battery and of course needs a water hose ran to it.
This year I planted a half acre of Reid’s field corn. This crop was going to be my seed source to plant a small field next year. That didn’t pan out as the field was devastated by the local wildlife. This isn’t the only time wildlife have wrought destruction to my crops either.
Here is the perfect application of technology. The unblinking eye of the scarecrow will watch my popcorn field to make sure it doesn’t join the disaster area list.
The popcorn field is in the garden, and is a small field that was by the house at the sawmill. It has remained safe due to the presence of our dog in the immediate area. Since we have moved that protection is no longer present leaving the field vulnerable.
After researching online I am sure these widgets will be useful. The reviews are good, and the price is much cheaper than a fence. The question I have is how well it will work on protecting a corn field where the motion may be hidden from its sensor. I will find out, and even if I have to keep a cleared firing strip bordering my garden in the future it will be worth it.
Since my new place is bordered by a dense forest the chance for critter destruction is high. I was planning on building a deer fence around the garden area for defense. The Scarecrow opens up the real possibility of being able to leave the area open, and still have it well defended. With no fences that might be in the way at a later date. Adding up the cost of a deer fence and the time to build it I would say these Scarecrows are a steal. I bought the entire stock that the Moberly Walmart had (2).
Mine were on clearance at walmart for $40. So if you want one that would be the place to check. They are $49.97 regularly and are on Walmart online. On Amazon they are $46.88 with free shipping for Prime members.
Since several years back when I learned of their existence I had wanted a pot maker that uses newspaper to make planting pots. A couple years ago I bought a homemade version of the pot makers and have used them for several seasons. I am very happy with the results, and will continue to use them.
I don’t care to buy something more than once if I can help it, and to buy peat or disposable plastic pots to start my plants every year didn’t appeal to me. The other option I had was to buy several hundred of the small clay pots, at least they can be reused. The clay pots have the disadvantage of removing the plant from the pot when it is time to transplant though. The newspaper pot maker solves all these problems.
The pot makers I bought are very simple, and could be easily copied at home. I have two sizes, but usually only use the smaller of the two. As you can see in the pictures it is black from newsprint after making 100’s of pots.
I started 80 Roma tomato plants using pots I made out of newspaper early this year. They worked great, the only problem I have had is the roots grow right through the pot walls and will try to grow into the surrounding pots if you don’t get them transplanted on time. My tomatoes didn’t get planted until later in the season due to the very rainy spring conditions and time constraints. I had to pull the pots apart as the roots were growing into their neighbors pot.
The pots can be planted directly into the ground, as they will degrade within a couple days, much faster than a peat pot. When I transplanted my tomatoes this year the pots were already about gone, having served its job the newspaper turns into dirt.
Since I pick up the local free classified papers in my area looking for deals, I always have some newspaper around. Making the pots is easy. I cut strips of paper long enough to make a pot with two layers of newspaper. I make the strips wide enough to just have the top of the pot maker outside the pot when the bottom is folded. I then tape the edge of the paper with masking tape to prevent it from unrolling. The tape is optional, I do it to keep the pots neat.
When I have enough pots made I put them in plastic shoe boxes to make moving them around easy. When I water the pots the shoe box prevents any leaks, and the system works pretty good.
In the future when I have a greenhouse I plan on building a heated starting bed that will be built to fit these pots. I paid about $11 for my two pot makers. If I were to have to replace them I would buy the style made of stone, as the surface would be smooth. When I first started using my pot maker it took a little while to get the sides smooth so the pot would slide off.
Searching the internet I found prices ranging from $15-$20 for pot makers, kinda high in my opinion. Although if you start a good number of plants you could recoup the cost of a pot maker in one season.
After testing various arrangements of chickens and rabbits living together I have found it to be a benefit and well worth considering, atleast in my circumstances. I have housed teenage chicks that are fully feathered with the rabbits in their hutch, and I have also housed rabbits in the chicken tractors. Here are my findings and opinions from testing cohousing for over a year.
Housing the teenage chickens with the rabbits has worked so well I plan on continuing the practice as long as I have chicks and rabbits. I am not sure of the exact reasons but the chicks that are housed with the rabbits mature into the tamest chickens I have ever had. They are almost too friendly. They also seem to be more mild mannered. It makes for very managable chickens, and is well worth considering.
I have two theories of why the chicks become so tame. One theory is the closer contact with us when we feed the rabbits and give them fresh greens, which causes the chicks to be more tame. The second theory is closely living with another species causes them to be less concerned of different species. In reality it is probably both.
I have not observed or seen evidence of any fighting between the chickens and the rabbits. They all seem to get along fine, and it makes a great place to put the chicks who don’t need supplemental heat but are small enough to get out of the chicken tractors. I also like to introduce full grown chickens into my flocks to give the new residents a fighting chance when the pecking order gets reestablished.
The one draw back I have found is the young rabbits don’t do well in the chicken tractors. When newborn the rabbits have a tendency to wiggle out of the coop and the under the coop or outside the chicken tractor. When they get older they like to go on excursions outside the protective confines of the chicken tractor. They can squize under small gaps making it very hard to keep them confined. We no longer keep young rabbits in the chicken tractors for these reasons.
So for my final system I let the rabbits live with the chickens inside the chicken tractor for most of the year. When the does get close to giving birth they are moved back to their hutches, which are a safer place to raise their young. When they have weaned their young the does can return to a chicken tractor. When the young rabbits get big enough to prevent frequent escapes they get to graze in a chicken tractor too.
While in the hutches I feed my rabbits weeds I have pulled from the garden every day. This gives me incentive to weed my garden, and it is almost as good as having the rabbits be able to graze in the chicken tractor. It works well, getting two jobs done at once.
For anyone considering cohousing I have a couple recomendations. My chickens and rabbits have been around eachother from birth. I would not put a rabbit into a group of chickens without careful introductions. Chickens can be pretty agrasive, and I don’t know what would happen. I think the best way to make cohousing work is from the begining. When they grow up together they get along.
On a side not my buck rabbit stays with all the young roosters in the original chicken tractor. The young roosters always stay locked up, as it causes havick to have that many roosters running free range. This is the perfect chicken tractor for ranging the rabbits as it is always locked down. All the other chicken tractor residents free range through the day.
Keeping an assortment of roosters lets us pick the best roosters out of the group to eventually be crowned king of his own flock. The others end up as chicken dinner.
Well it is official that we own the piece of my Grandpa’s old farm that was for sale. We have been working on the old house for the past month. We are preparing to move there as soon as it is ready, and we are looking forward to living in the larger house which will feel like a mansion compared to our current crowded living conditions.
I have added a gallery of the new property to my website, and will eventually add another gallery of the house. It needs a lot of work and we are currently working on the living and dining rooms, as well as plumbing and general cleaning. We are hoping to have it livable in a couple weeks.
I think it is a neat coincidence that we now own a piece of what was at one time my grandpa’s farm in the 70’s and 80’s. The farm has been out of my family for almost three decades, and I was 6 years old when it was sold. I have some memories of swimming in the big pond my grandpa built on the place, and staying at the farm a couple times.
Here is a spin on the Ultimate PVC Chicken tractor sent to me by the builder.
Very well done with some unique design features. I had emailed the designer asking if he wanted to be named, but have not received a reply, so I will only post his pictures at this time.
This is why I like PVC for building chicken tractors. It is very adaptable, strong and light weight. The chicken tractor can be designed to the individuals own needs.
I would love to get more pictures of PVC chicken tractors or coops, and would also be open to other designs as well. I believe the more options that are presented the better a choice can be made to match the needs of the chicken connoisseur. So please send some pictures my way, the more the better. If you don’t want your pictures posted, I will honor your wishes, but still send them as I would still love to see the chicken tractors.
By luck where we live is located just a half mile up the road from my grandpa’s old farm. When we looked for our new property we considered land through the entire state of Missouri with an emphasis on Macon county and the area around Kansas City south towards Joplin. What matched our criteria best was the property we bought. The property just happened to be a piece of my Aunts old place up the road from my Grandpa’s farm. It is kind of weird how life works out. The only family we have in this area currently is my brother and my wife’s parents. My family in this area has parted ways and spread throughout the country.
I had no intentions of moving from this property when we bought it, but as coincidences lined up we are currently planning on a move. A piece of my grandpa’s farm has been listed for sale and we are in the process of buying it. The piece is 50-55 acres and includes the old farm house, shop and some outbuildings as well as a grain bin. From my understanding Grandpa’s farm was 210 acres and he farmed there in the 70’s and 80’s before selling the place and moving to Kansas.
I think it would be a great addition, and it is a nice piece of property. We have made an offer and are waiting on an appraisal of the farm to get the loan. We have almost paid our current property off, so we have some collateral. I am not in favor of going in debt, and have avoided it most of my life. Sometimes it is necessary as the property would be long gone by the time I had the cash saved up. With a lot of hard work we plan on having the place paid for by 2020.
If we get the farm we will have 75-80 acres with 50+ tillable. The small herd of cattle will have more ground than they know what to do with and I will dramatically increase their numbers. I also have some ground where I am cutting hay on shares. I will probably be dropping some of that hay share ground as I can only handle so many acres with my small equipment.
So here are some pictures of what will most likely become the Lewis Family Farm.
