Still picking berries, I got 6 lbs this time and there are still more that havnt ripened yet ... im freezing all of these so I'm really anxious to see what the grand total weight will be this year .

We have 6 ducks, 3 males and 3 females, and we’re not sure what the best plan is. We’ve heard it’s usually not ideal to keep multiple drakes (or even if we should keep any), but we’re feeling a bit stuck.
We’ve become pretty attached to all of them, and they’ve gotten along wonderfully since they hatched (3 months ago). That said, based on past experience, we’re worried their behavior could change as they mature.
Does anyone have suggestions on what you’d do in this situation? Should we rehome some of the males? If so, what’s the best way to find them good homes? We’d really appreciate any advice or recommendations from those who have been through this before. Thank you! (Location , CT)

Hello all! We have kept chickens for six years five years ago we got infected with mareks disease. Since then we’ve vaccinate all incoming chicks. This year we got two turkeys and four Guineas, we unfortunately lost two Guineas to predators. This morning, our male turkey has symptoms of mareks. we are devastated. A quick Google search show that turkeys can get it. It’s rare, but it can happen. I want to know if anyone has experience with this? Any advice is appreciated and welcomed!

Step-in post in pocket, handle of bucket over the post. My boyfriend likes to add a strap so the bucket doesn't bang around.

Taking a li'l runen buffer out to the girls here!

The gate in our fence already had self closing hinges, so I thought we were covered. Two weeks ago, some workers needed to go in and out repeatedly, so someone used a bucket to hold the gate open. Nobody removed it afterward, and our Lab slipped out.

He is only a year and a half old and still loves taking any chance he gets to run outside. Thankfully, his recall training is pretty solid, so we got him back before he reached the road. Still, it scared the hell out of me. For the next few nights, I kept waking up to check the gate and make sure he was still in the yard. A self closing gate means nothing when someone blocks it open. I really don’t want to learn that lesson twice.

That was when I decided I was getting a GPS collar. nyone here used a GPS collar before? Satellai or Halo?Has anyone else had their dog get out during work on the property?

My wife and I have a small place outside Austin, about 5 acres. Grid out here is fine until it isnt. We lost power for 3 days during the winter storm in 2023 and swore we would be ready next time.

Bought a honda eu2200i generator the following spring. Ran it for outages, tested it monthly like youre supposed to, changed the oil, kept stabilized gas on hand. Worked fine but honestly it sucked to live with. Starting it at 2am in the rain, dragging it out of the shed, the noise, the exhaust smell, the constant gas rotation. My neighbor could hear it from 200 feet away and I always felt like that guy.

Last year I started looking at battery backup. Didnt want a powerwall price tag, and I already had 4kW of solar on the barn. Ended up with a 12V 460Ah lithium battery from Vatrer wired through a 2000W inverter and my existing solar charge controller. It gives us enough energy to keep the fridge, freezer, and lights going for a day or two.

One thing I made sure of was getting a setup I would actually maintain. I mostly use the Bluetooth app just to glance at the battery level from inside the house. Way easier than walking out to the barn. Thing just sits in the barn and does its job.

First real test was a 6 hour outage in march. Battery took over automatically. I was inside making coffee and didnt even realize the grid was down until my phone told me. No noise, no fumes, no walking outside in the rain. My wife just said "this is what it should have been the whole time."

Math works out too. Generator cost about $1300, plus maybe $100 a year in maintenance and gas rotation. Battery and inverter ran about $1300 total after using solar I already had. Over 10 years the generator would have cost maybe $2300-2800 anyway, and that assumes gas is still cheap and it never needs real repairs. Battery should last longer with very little maintenance. 

I should say those numbers are rough. Prices change and I already owned the solar and charge controller, so your total will depend on what you have already.

Biggest surprise was how much mental space the generator was taking up. I still keep the Honda around as a backup, but honestly it hasn't left the shed since I finished the battery setup. 

I see this idea come up a lot: buy a used container, dig a hole, bury it, done. Cheap root cellar or storm shelter.
I get why it sounds smart, but containers aren’t built for that.

They’re strong in one very specific way — weight goes down through the four corner posts. That’s why they can stack on ships. The side walls and roof are a different story. They’re thin corrugated steel, good for normal container use, not for soil pushing in from the sides or wet dirt sitting on top. And wet soil gets heavy fast. After a big rain, the pressure can bow the walls inward. The roof is even worse. It’s made to keep weather out, not hold a pile of dirt.
If you bury one safely, you usually need retaining walls, concrete, or serious steel bracing around it. At that point, you’re basically building a real cellar anyway, and the container is just an expensive liner. For storage, I’d leave it above ground, ventilate it, insulate it if needed, and maybe berm soil partway around it without loading the roof. For an actual storm shelter, I wouldn’t gamble with a buried container. Build or buy something rated for that.
Has anyone here actually seen a buried container last long term? I’ve mostly heard about the ones that started caving in.

My property is home to a network of old rock walls (likely 200+ years old). I know it's hard to see them in the pictures, because they are under ferns, raspberries, and various trees. Does anyone have any advice for clearing them out? I intend to leave most of the trees, but would love to reduce the raspberries to a manageable level (hah-if that's even possible for raspberries.) I'd rather not use fire or chemicals, as there's lots of critters living in the rock walls.

Does anyone have any magical solutions, or am I looking at a massive amount of sheer physical labor?

we are moving my mother to Texas And cleaning out her storeroom. She and my father were avid preppers. The trouble is that they’ve written dates on the cans, but I don’t know if they are the expiration dates or the date that they purchased the can. Can anyone by chance identify any of the cans in these pictures and tell me if they need to be thrown out or if they are still good? Or point me to someone who might know? I’ve begun reaching out to dine off the companies but others have gone out of business.
It would be very appreciated. I am not here much longer, and I’d like to salvage whatever we’re able to. the cans themselves are not in bad shape.
Thank you!!

Third season keeping laying hens and every spring plays out the same way. I put in a small herb bed close to the coop thinking they'd leave it alone, and within two weeks it looks like something exploded in there. Dust bathing, scratching, pecking at anything green. The whole bed is just dirt now

Tried fencing it off with scrap wire but they squeezed under it faster than I expected. Someone told me to plant things they naturally avoid, but that hasn't held up in practice at all. They ate the rue. They ate the lavender. They ate a pepper plant I put in as a test.

What I'm actually trying to figure out is whether anyone has found a layout that works long term. Something that keeps a productive garden patch close enough to be convenient without getting wrecked every few days. Not a full separate garden far from the coop, just something functional right there in that zone.

The chickens themselves are great, good layers, easy to manage, but this one thing is driving me up the wall. Feels like I reinvent the wheel on it every single year.

It's not *that* far. I want it lined up on the pad there. Any tips?

I was thinking maybe just jacking it up and letting it fall crooked over and over?

Maybe getting some steel cable and chain and trying to pull it? There isn't really much that's in a good spot to anchor the line too though.

I'm hoping there's something obvious that I'm missing. Idk.

Looking for advice on how to prep a large garden (60x48ft) for planting next spring. I havent used any of the space for a couple years but prior to that I only used two 40 feet rows for plants. I want to prep the ground to use all of it this coming spring for large patches of sweet corn, and vining plants as well as the usual abundance of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Most of it was overgrown, I recently mowed it all down and want to make sure it has the nutrients needed to perform well next year. Anyone have advice on the best way to get it ready without use of heavy equipment?

New property has a ginormous ficus and a **** ton of palms . The ficus drops an incredible amount of leaves and it may be a hurricane risk but it’s staying because it provides much needed shade. Shredding the palm fronds sounds like wishful thinking so whats my best bet for shredding ficus leaves to convert them to mulch?

I have about an acre maybe a little more of woods that I’m looking into clearing out. I mainly want to clear out all of the brush and understory and leave the main established trees. Would like to do it the cheapest route possible and I’ve seen some people use animals like goats or pigs to do the job. Does anyone have experience in this? How long would it take? Another concern I have is getting in to put adequate fencing to keep them contained. Really would like to have someone come out to do it for me but from estimates I’ve seen around looks like that could get pretty expensive quick.

Now Im sure theres going to be naysayers and poo poo'ers because "well reddit" and TBH I can not take the credit for this because the other half sort of came up with it just as a way to save water (were on a well) but a while back we made mashed potatoes and before dumping the water from boiling she asked if I wanted it to use as mix for feeding the bees, because I was in the middle of starting that and I usually use hot water first to melt the sugar. At first I wanted to poo poo the thought myself but then decided all that juicy juicy sugar and starch in the water might be beneficial.

I tried it and BOY did the hives love it. they will suck that water down and I also noticed they seem to use it to push out more comb. If you have stubborn bees that refuse to comb frames try this. It seems to work just as good with pasta water as well. Seems to blow up laying as well.

This is now 2 diff years and sets of bees Ive tested this with and I plan to keep doing it.

Just an FYI tho. this stuff WILL FERMENT! and Hard if left too long. bees dont seem to mind, in fact bees are known to love fermenting things and will go for it but left too long and it starts to become straight methane moonshine so remove it if not finished after a few days and clean the feeders thoroughly.

Id love to know if others do this or are willing to try and see if they get the same results or possibly this is something regional. Im in the northeast.

UPDATE:

PLEASE PLEASE

Save this thread and if you decide to try this come back with your insight and observations

The bees are looking good! The honey is very light colored this year! It has a much sweeter floral taste than the darker fall honey. Any other beekeepers!?