It's Easy Being Green

Proof positive that raised bed gardening has its perks: I unearthed these gems this cold late December afternoon out in the garden here at the Half-Acre Homestead. These were planted in late spring and there are many more in line to mature behind them. For anybody who doubts you can grow your own food in the winter this should tell you otherwise!

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Photo by Greg Bagley

Are you looking for a cheap, easy way to create several nesting boxes for your laying hens at once? I saw this fantastic setup over at McMurray Hatchery’s Homesteading Chores Ideas and Contraptions Contest that just ended a couple of weeks ago.

It’s basically a wooden rack that holds two stories of 5 gallon buckets that look to make excellent nesting boxes. The plus with Greg Bagley’s design is that the buckets are secured so they won’t move but are also easily removed for cleaning. Click the link above to see more photos and read Greg’s assembly instructions.

Our coop is way to small for this setup here at the Half-Acre Homestead but I hope to keep this idea in the noggin for future use. Do you have a unique nesting box setup? Leave a comment below and let us know!

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I’m so enamored with a Christmas card we just received in our office at work today. It’s from our friends at the San Diego Zoo and their pachyderms who also took part in the crafting errr I mean excreting of the card. That’s right, your mind is headed in the right direction.

The PooPooPaper card stock and envelope are crafted from a giant heap of steaming elephant poo, recycled without one whiff or clue to its origin and now resting between your fingers. Some co-workers were disgusted. I was delighted and now I’ll share the poopy greeting with you!

The envelope, giving only the slightest of hint as to the contents inside

The front...

The inside...

The reveal on the back...

A closeup of the logo

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Now that we’re in full-fledged toddler mode around the Half-Acre Homestead, it’s exciting to step up the Christmas game a few notches. Like a cranky body snatcher sneaking in overnight, the terrible terrible twos have taken over my Darling Daughter’s little body. It’s been enough to send my Homestead Hottie and me up the crazy wall, wondering on an almost minute by minute basis what creature has possessed that sweet  pixie-faced little redhead of ours.

This Christmas we thought what better of a way to reinforce good behaviors then to join the Elf on a Shelf craze. We’ve heard good reports from hundreds of other parents who swear by this little elf’s ability to keep everyone good little girls and boys during the month of December. We balked at the $29 price tag of that little creepy looking elf and instead opted to go with the cheaper, cuter and oh yeah “original”, Christopher Popinkins. Darling Daughter Everly has gotten into the daily search for our friendly elf and boy, that gets to be a challenge to find a new place to pose the little snooper.

Imagine my surprise when I found out Jill over at baby rabies is putting on an Inappropriate Elf Contest. The idea: pose your elf in an inappropriate way yet keep it PG-13. So many ideas immediately went out the window with that rule but one still remained. There must be at least one elf that gets a little too merry some night, right? If you think the picture below is bad, you should see what Talina caught him doing before he finally passed out. After all, there’s a lot of pressure for one little elf to handle this time of year!

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