Antonio's Notes

Just a place to test and posts things.

Planting, growing, and composting. Repeat.

Chicken Coop

/ By / In Gardening

Here’s the coop I built for my four chickens.  I was trying to keep them inside for eight weeks, but they were getting big and creating a poop mess in their 2′ x 2′ box, so I got on the coop and this is what I came up with.
I didn’t have any detailed plans, I just looked around on-line at other coops and came up with what I thought would work well and fit in the back yard.
The materials cost around $450 and it took me two weeks working an hour or two here and there.  However some days I did put in more than an hour or two in; a lot more.
20160524_151419-1 20160526_160724-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First I did a basic sketch, keeping in consideration the room needed per chicken the the coop (2-4 square feet ) and run (6 – 8 square feet).  If you let your chickens free range these can be on the lower side, but it’s nice to give them as much room as possible.

I also considered the dimensions of my building supplies.  Sheets of plywood are 4′ x 8′ and 2 x 4’s are cheep in 8 ft. lengths.
And I used what I had laying around.  If I did it again, I probably would not have tried to salvage some of the extr wood I had because it took me extra time to put out nails and some of it was already warped.
I would also reduced the thickness on many of the pieces…The posts I would still keep at 2″ x 4″, but everything else probably could have been reduced.  The 1″ x 2″s could have been 1″ x 1″ and the 1″ x 1″ could have been 1″ x 1/2″.  Once everything is tied together it gets very rigid and the reduction of wood could have saved money and weight.
Much of the work can be done with hand tools, but it is nice to have a table saw to make a variety of angle cuts and for ripping long pieces to your required needs.  I also recommend having a few drills: one for making pilot holes (don’t want to split the wood), one for driving the screws in and one for whatever.  You will save a lot of time not changing bits.
Tools:
*Table saw
*Saws-all
*Miter saw
*Hand drills (3)
*C clamps
*Bar clamps
*Belt sander
*Tin snips
*Power stapler
This blog is still a work in progress, but here at photos that show the steps involved.  I’ll add comments soon. 
20160526_162035-1
20160508_144808 20160508_140650frame2
20160508_144755 20160508_150312 20160508_150401 20160509_171835 20160509_171847 20160509_183904 20160509_183911 20160510_155643 20160510_155657 20160510_174626
tttt
20160511_152354 20160511_154134 20160511_162825 20160511_162833 20160511_162837 20160511_162843 20160511_162847 20160511_172010 20160511_173255 20160511_180135 20160511_180653 20160511_185259 20160511_194128
20160511_194138 20160511_194212 20160512_123030 20160512_123040 20160512_133025 20160512_133031 20160512_145854 20160512_155110 20160512_155825 20160512_155831 20160514_150131 20160514_150152 20160514_150203 20160515_114342 20160515_143953 20160515_143959 20160515_160333 20160516_204423 20160516_204527 20160516_205029 20160516_205550 20160518_113803 20160518_113850 20160518_120503 20160518_121437 20160518_140006 20160518_141829 20160518_142321 20160518_151008 20160518_151216 20160518_165520 20160518_171651 20160518_195300 20160519_092726 20160519_105009 20160519_110415 20160519_110421 20160519_113304 20160519_113323 20160519_113330 20160519_113336 20160519_182801 20160520_104422 20160520_112856 20160520_135734 20160520_140550 20160522_090756 20160522_141806 20160522_153846 20160523_185707 20160524_111356 20160524_151344-1 20160524_151419-1 20160524_151433-1 20160524_185711 20160524_185747 20160524_185804 20160526_160724 20160526_160724-1

Growing Wheatgrass

/ By / In Gardening

I’ve been juicing for a while and saw a post about Wheatgrass.  I knew it was a healthy juice and many people take a shot of it to get their day going.   I also heard it was a little expensive to purchase, so why not try to grow my own.

As with almost anything these days a little Googling goes a long way. Here’s my adventure.

I pick up some Hard Winterwheat Berries (seeds) from Frazier Farms on Oceanside Blvd., these aren’t organic, but they will do to get me started. Next batch I will get organic.

From my research, two cups of seeds should be adequate for a 16″ x 16″. (I actually found this to be a bit much and now only do one and a half cups per trays. Rinse the seeds with cold water (filtered preferred-I’ve done it both ways and gotten the same results) and then soak for eight hosts. Rinse and soak two more times for a total of three cycles.

By this time you should see little sprouts (1/16th inch) emerging from the seeds. We are now ready to plant.

wheatgrass-rinse

Use a well draining tray and fill with about two inches of potting soil. I presonally made my own mix with garden compost, peat moss, perlight, and some potting soil that I have left over. Thoroughly soak the mix before putting in the tray. If the tray’s holes are too big, you can line the bottom with non-bleached paper towels (I got mine from Trader Jo’s). Lightly compact the soil and water until it drains from the bottom. It can be a little messy, so find an appropriate work area until you got a system down.

Carpet the seeds on top of the compacted soil. They can be touching, but you don’t want many layers. I’m still experimenting with this. Here are two photos of my experiments. The less dense seemed to work better.

berries-denseberries-space

Water a little more. Cover with wet paper towels, being careful not to touch the seeds as they will stick to the paper. I have an upside down tray I use.

Water in the morning and make sure the paper towel is wet at night. If you have well draining trays, I don’t think you can over water in the beginning. Once you have grass forming, you can back off a little bit.

Here’s a close up photo of the seeds with larger spouts.  You can see the sprout and the root (white hairy protrusion) forming.

wheat-berry-sprouts

Here’s some photos of the progress at about 4 days.

wheatgrass-medium-topwheatgrass-medium-side

This is at about 8 days.

wheatgrass-tall-topwheatgrass-tall

At this time, I took the try in the house and let it grow for a couple of more days and then harvested the whole batch.

Sometime during the growing part, you may want to start soaking some more berries so you can repeat the whole process and keep your supply of Wheatgrass in the green.

Harvest

I usually harvest the whole tray of Wheatgrass at one time and put it in a bag in the refrigerator for easy use the next time I want to juice. A knife or scissor works fine. As you can see in the photo I’ve left about 1-2 inches of the stem of the grass because I have a little problem with mold and want to keep it well away from the harvest. My research says this mold is not harmful otherwise I would be tossing the whole batch. Push as much air out of the bag to reduce the oxidation of the Wheatgrass. I’ve kept Wheatgrass in the refrigerator for over a week will little visual signs of oxidation.  I’m sure it has lost some of it’s nutritional value, but its the best I can do to manage my supply.

wheatgrass-harvestwheatgrass-bag

Troubleshooting

I’ve been having a mold problem at the base of my Wheatgrass.  See the white cotton looking stuff with black specks at the the base of the grass. My research says it’s not harmful, so I’ll keep the harvest, but cut far away from the mold.  I’m not sure if it’s airborne or in the soil.  I’ll do some research and see if there is a way to get rid of it or at least drastically reduce it.

wheatgrass-mold

I know mold thrives in certain humidity levels, so I’ll experiment with adjusting that and moving my tray into the sun during the day.  I’ve also read that misting with white vinegar can help.