If you have not already it is time to get your spring garden seeds going. Different people have a variety of techniques that they use to get their seedlings strong for the summer soil. My favorite technique is filling up up a shallow pot or tray with hearty soil. I like to use a mixture of hummus from the vermicomposter and old soil from my front garden. this way the seeds have the nutrients that they will need to grow strong.
I tend to spread the seeds about a half inch apart, this way they have a little growing room. after the seeds are planted lightly water the soil so that it is not dry but not to damp as well.
One of the first questions that I get asked when I am giving a presentation at a local school or garden shop is,”Richard Dean, where should I do first to start my garden?” I get asked this question so much that I started bringing around a poster with me that says it plain and simple,”Your Garden Starts in Your Compost Bin” Lets face it, if you don’t have any way to provide food and nutrients to a dog you wouldn’t get a dog as a pet would you? Well then why would you plant seedlings or starters in your yard if you do not have a way to feed them? Composting your left over fruit and vegetable scraps including egg shells, paper and garden waist is a great way to provide nutrients to your soil, which in return provide them to your plants.
More on composting to come.
Everyone that raises chickens eventually runs across what we call an egg bound chicken. This is a chicken that is having difficulty passing an egg. Some of the common characteristics or symptoms of a hen that is egg bound is that is lethargic and not moving around. Often they just sit still or perched with their eyes somewhat shut. You can fell up their egg duct to see if their is an egg, but before you do I would first read the Richard Teasta Ez Lube Technique Below.
Richard Teasta Ez Lube Technique for Removing Stuck Eggs
Place your hen inside a warm bath. Make sure that the egg duct is covered with water. Try to get the temperature of the water above 96 but below a 103. Place the hen indie the water for up to thirty minutes if you can. This is an Ez way for the chicken to naturally loosen up so that the egg can lube itself out. I know that this is a little bit on the grose side and I do apologize. Raising poultry is not for the sqeemish. It is very rewarding for those that do.
I love growing fish and vegtables simultaneously in what is called an aquaponic garden. I love it, Love it, totally frickin love it!
“Slow Down Dicky Dean,” is what my Mamma use to say when she could make out what I was getting all worked up about. You see fish poop is full of nitrates, and plants need nitrates to survive, they covert the nitrates into nitrites and that is what fish need to survive. Combining aquaculture and hydropnics you get what gardeners call aquaponics. Now don’t sit there with your smug self and think, “Well Richard Teasta how do you expect me to know what some nerdy scientists are coming up with in their lab when I am so natural I don’t have a TV or a computer?” Aquaponics was not discovered by some scientist, it was designed by nature, how do you think plants get their food by rivers or estuaries? It comes from the natural ebb and flow of the tide. Not to mention the Egyptians were the first ones in history that we know of that used aquaponics as some of their hieroglyphs accuratly depict fish and vegetables being grown together.
Hello family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, my Persian friend at the market and my Israelite friend at the garden store, oh what the hey, HELLO WORLD. This is my new website were I plan on sharing all of the information that I have learned about organic gardening, permaculture, aquaculture and everything in between. It’s not that I don’t mind you passing my name and information to all of your friends interested in gardening or raising urban chickens, it’s just that I felt it was a good time to collecting all of my information in one place. This way we can all refer and comment on topics and things that we have learned along the way at, well why not Richard-Teasta.com.
If you don’t know me, my name is Richard Dean Teasta from the Lone Star State of Texas. I have lived in Southern California, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mainland Mexico, Baja California, Oklahoma, New York and Texas. I am one of those guys that likes to grow my own food, and teach anyone around me that will listen how to grow their own food as well. If you like organic gardening, raising fish, composting and natural living then i hope you will like Richard-Teasta.com
