Small Things

What makes me really happy?

POOP!

People poop?

Nope-too stinky!

Chicken poop?

Nope-too hot.

Cow poop?

Nope-too seedy, and sloppy.

Horse poop?

Nope-too big and expensive.


I mean super balanced, easy to gather, easy to use Rabbit or Goat poop or manure.

A perfect blend of all the nutrients plants need, in a ready to use small pellet.

Since we are not allowed to have goats here (or chickens for that matter) I have rabbits. Rabbits are considered a pet in Texas, and not a farm animal. I might argue that point, BUT since it works for me, and I CAN have them here, I'm not arguing too loud. Rabbits are probably better, because they happily live in a cage, and don't cry like goats.

My plan (experiment) was to have rabbits in cage, cage up high, compost underneath, rabbit urine and manure feeding the compost pile. We have been adding veggie scraps, and grass clippings.

Recently my mom started sending her veggie scraps too. So, because I want to give her straight manure, I put an old dishpan under the rabbits, and the manure just falls into it. Yesterday I was able to send a nice amount home with her. Today I am adding a wider pan, to catch more manure for easy harvest. Rabbit poop makes my mom happy too! (Only she perfurs the term rabbit pellets:)

What is this manure good for? It is a perfect balance of nutrients for your plants. It comes in an easy to use dry pellet form, or in our case, because urine is being gathered too, a dryish mixture. It can be gathered easily by just scooping it up from under the cage. The smell is very mild and only present when there is alot of manure. It can be used for manure tea. It can be used immediately (some manures have to age a bit to lower the nitrogen level). It can be placed at the base of the plant and will feed over time.

No picture of the rabbit manure-Just the rabbits in their new set up.

We purchased the rabbits in August.
Currently the underneath compost pile is about ten inches deep of old veggies, and grass clippings.
I'm hoping to also use this as a worm bed.

When I feed my rabbits, it makes me happy! I'm not trashing compost-able scraps, I'm not spending a fortune on pre-packaged manure. They don't ask for much, and I love them!!!
(I also have a bottom-less cage I plan on putting them in later and letting them 'mow' the tall grass under the cage, moving it around as they go:)

11th Heavens Homemaking Haven for Home Maker Monday

Everyday Elegance for My Favorite Things Monday

AND
As for Me and My House for Making A Happy Home Monday

Its a party, and your invited!

Calling all worms this is the place to be!!!!


Place: In the lovely private resort known as My Backyard



Time: Starting 08/11/08, All day, All night



A special live performance by:

The Rabbits Three
Famous Californians
with none stop urine and manure



The Resort will be providing a wonderful blend of hard, nutrient-free dirt:




The Resort will be providing and all you can eat buffet of:

With the menu of scraps changing daily!




Come Prepared for Plenty of:
Eating Pooping Reproducing Eating Pooping Reproducing

Come stay and play!
PARTY ON BABY-PARTY ON!!!!

{so, here's the real plan, have the rabbits (1 buck-2 does) in their own cages-breed to eat or replace-if desired, feed rabbits scraps, have worm bed under rabbit cages-feeding on rabbit manure, and try to grow some potatoes there too-we will see how it goes!}

Oh, for the love of the worms...

I finally got around to redoing my worm bed. I watched many videos on YouTube (some that led me to farming pot with worm castings (important stuff to know-NOT)), some really cute stuff too. Neat ideas on how to build stacking bins-cheap. So today, while I remembered I did it. Yesterday, while visiting mom, I shoveled up some old worm bed castings from a recently dumped freezer worm bed at the neighbors' (I AM going back-with MORE buckets), I got two 5 gallon buckets full and didn't even make a dent. This morning I broke up some of the stuff and picked the worms out (I've decided to wet a corner of the castings and let the worms move to it, then harvest them-and take the castings and feed my plants-less stress for me and the worms)
Then I went and checked my poor worm bed.

{some how I managed to loose the pasted picture of a bin like mine, here is the website with the same bin: http://www.worms.com/worm-friendly-habitat.html}

My bin started out in the kitchen-but its big and in the way, so I put it in the backyard-with the intention of feeding it everyday with compost-but the backyard is gross and I don't want to go out there. So, it sat outside, in the heat, in the sun (shady-est spot I have) and dried up. Really dry! No sign of worms, I'm hoping they left eggs, but either way, I'm restocking worms. I layered newspaper, green yard waste, a chuck of castings, and more newspaper. It is going on the dryer where I can easily get to it, and will see it all the time to remind myself to check for moisture. I'm on the look out for a smaller bin set up (homemade or cheap purchase) for inside, and moving this big box outside and using it for the bottom of a stacking set up (in my new potting area), with putting a spigot on it for worm juice.

While looking for the picture above on the web, I found these-too cool huh?

Mini Kitchen Compost Carrier - KC-1000

The Best Kitchen Compost Carrier - KC-2000

The best kitchen compost carrier on the market. This extremely popular kitchen composter is in 100's of thousands of homes worldwide. It is portable and perfect for short term storage of kitchen compost that was designed with home composting programs in mind. A special feature on this container is the optional carbon filter, which helps to eliminate odors caused by composting materials. With its wide opening it is easy to clean off dishes directly into the container, and the lid design only requires one hand to open.. All of the corners and edges are rounded so that it is simple to clean and empty, in addition to being dishwasher safe. The Kitchen Compost Carrier can also hang on a wall or cupboard door by way of two screw holes in the back.

{SELF WATERING!!}

Home Composter Bin

The Home Composter is a 13 cubic foot family sized bin is perfect for kitchen waste and yard clippings. This composter features a locking lid with a self watering system which collects rain water and distributes it throughout the compost. The Home Composter has two slide-up doors which make harvesting the finished compost simple and easy. The door openings are large and come with a hands-free locking system when in the upright position.

And then this:

So much neat stuff!

I got up early and watered and planted some before it got to hot (at 8am,) and now am going to do my flylady stuff! God bless and have a GREAT DAY!!!