Catching Coons.

Part of living in the country is living with animals. There are times that they become destructive and must be removed to a more wild area. This is especially true with Raccoons.
We bought this trap and added metal sides and partial metal bottom so they could not reach the food from the outside. We also put a thin board on the platform so the have to move the board to reach the food. This has made the trap fool proof. We have caught 5 coons already.
When the coons are caught they can be very aggressive, so what we do is put a towel/ blanket over the trap. We also added wire handles on each end to easily move the trap while keeping it covered without getting bit.

Chicken Waterer

I was frustrated with always cleaning dirty chicken waterers. After much research I can across these 360 degree chicken waterers . They are easy to install and the chickens figure out how to use them! You just need to take away any other source of water at night , then when they wake up in the morning they will go in search of water. There is a drop of water on the end of the nipple for they to peck at, then when they reach for that more water comes out.
I have attached this to the rain water system we had in place with a 18" piece of PVC. I put a plug on the end so I could easily empty and if needed, clean it.
Farmtek gives good instructions , the one step I added was to use Plumbers tape with all the connections.

5 year update

I have finally created a map of our Land . I hope this give you a sense of the layout of the buildings and garden.
To zoom for a closer look ; double click on the map, then click on the little Zoom courser on the map (the little magnifying glass symbol). Move the courser to where you want to see a close up of, then click on the courser.

We have started watering the driveway with a sprinkler for 24 hours each week. This is helping to leverage our time and has proven to be much better for the plants, especially in the 100 degree plus heat!

We now have collected all the tanks we need for the rain water collection, now all we need are roofs and rain.
Here is where the future house will be built, it is our burn pile for now. Since there has not been sufficient rain, we are still in a burn ban.
The flowers are showing signs of heat stress.

The pond is crystal clear, only two fish out of 20 that we bought. We are thinking is is the heat, too much temperature difference between what they are use to in the store and the heat of the tank water.
One out of the 6 water lilies we bought on sale made it.

This is the bone pile that is located behind the future carport.
Piles of rock waiting for placement on the trails , in the drainage lines and freeze hydrants.
The shop slab waiting for completion, hopefully this winter.
The studio , where we store our shop supplies, is protecting the goods from rain and sun with the vinyl advertising panels as the roof. We call it the studio because after we move the contents to the carport , we will build this to be used as an art studio someday.
The pigeons are so happy in their outside flight area protected from hawks.
Another pigeon cage.
Here is the Latrine and on the other side , the shower. These buildings are on the north side of the chicken coop.
The kitchen is getting shaggy, but the move into the shop is getting closer.
The new chickens are starting to lay eggs. The new rooster (Lucky Duck) is doing really well, he has the undivided attention of 45 Hens.
We planted milo as a summer crop for the chickens, it was OK at first, then it just became dried stalks. After we run the water line we plan on planting Bermuda because it grows very well in sand and we can keep it watered..
The greenhouse has its first coat of paint, we hope to finish it after the water line is installed and maybe before the carport slab.


The garden is having a hard time with the heat, cut ant and moles.....but the shading is helping.