#FlashbackFriday
I still miss my little Huckleberry. She was a wonderful #chicken friend

I got some old issues of "better homes and gardens" for free at the library, and while I'm enjoying looking at these gardens (I particularly like the trellis design in pic 1), all i can think about is how expensive some of this landscaping looks

I want a magazine of solarpunk/dirt farmer/off-gridder/homesteader/diy gardens! Where is it?!? I guess it's here on masto lol.

Oof, I'm jabsolutely schnackered, but the potatoes are all in.

Leveled the mess from the fence removal with the digger.

Made a no-dig bed from Barnfloor Special*, a small amount of kitchen compost and a bunch of hay raked on top.

Barn is looking a step up again and I have enough space to park the machinery side by side, which is nice.

* The barn floor had a mix of old hay, manure, rotting wood and dry dusty soil, which is now a garden bed.

If you have a solar-panel battery charger/storage system for off-grid/no-grid household use, and you like how it works, what non-Tesla components did you use?

I found it! The weakest link!

I also found a few other things:

That Yato 3 ton farm jack is proper strong (although the foot is slightly crooked now).

This post, unlikely all the others, was concreted in. So I was trying to pull the steel out of the concrete, which lead to chain failure.

DIY store chain is poorly welded.

Cheap crap stainless U-shackles from a random chandlery are sometimes surprisingly strong!

Iseki finally got that well deserved wash. Also a new alternator belt, so no more screeching.

Love the engine access here. Top hinges up, side panels just lift out to get access to everything. Nobody appreciates good engine access like a former sailboat owner!

Drying off now, then time for some fresh grease.

Adebar striding around outside.

They're not very bothered by humans. They keep an eye on us and that's it.

I've seen them hunt directly next to the motorway.

And when the neighbour plowed his field, they swarmed after the tractor, pecking up the freshly exposed snacks.

I have such a long post to make about the quantity of plastic used in farming and home gardening. It's so much, and breaking down in the worst possible places. From poly tunnels, tarping to kill cover crops, and large round bales of hay to little starter pots, baling twine, and electronet it's so hard to avoid.

Our hay guy tried sisal twine for baling last year but it broke too often for him to use long term. We're replacing the reused plastic baling twine that ties our metal chicken stops together with the leftover sisal. We use biodegradable pots for starters until we can get a good soil blocker.

Looking at setting up a greenhouse the costs of using anything but poly sheeting or poly siding are astronomical. We have a lot of random glass around from various renovation projects, but not nearly enough to do a sizable greenhouse. I don't think it's going to far to say that the "start a home garden, it will save money" movement is predicated on using cheap plastics right now.

I'm curious how other folks are thinking / feeling about this and novel solutions to reducing plastics in gardening.

Stork still improving the nest. Perhaps the last week of crappy weather has necessitated some repairs. He's nicely cleaning up the birch twigs in front of the house. Get them all!

I'm not sure if there are eggs yet. There should be, but according to the previous folks, last year they did not succeed either.

I’ve recently been investing in my analog life and built this chicken coop. The only fancy thing about it is an automatic watering system so we can effectively go on trips without asking a neighbor to tend to the flock.

Totally enclosed and rodent proof - I think these ladies are happy.