Farm Update

So I though, I would give you all an update on my life in the farm. Since I don't have internet access at the farm, so I have to wait until I come home for a visit. Thus you will have to wait till I come home to visit and see how I am doing. So as usual it is AMAZING. I live in a little piece of paradise, my trailer home; on a 300 acre farm. There is an amazing Golden Retriever dog, named Jewels; who sleeps outside my trailer to greet me in the morning...love that dog, and she is so adorable.
So I thought I would take you through some of my chores. On one of the rare sunny days that we had here in Ohio, Dick, the proprietor of the farm decided that is was time to plant potatoes. I guess, when you start seeing the dandelions bloom. It means the soil has warmed up enough for the potatoes to grow! So there is a tip for all of you people. One of the other part-time interns came in, and together we cut 600 pounds of potatoes! That's a lot of potatoes, if you couldn't tell.
After the potatoes, I water the greenhouse 1-2 times a day. for all of you who LOVE plants and would kill to have a greenhouse, then I will have to start watching my back. I have the pleasure of watering a HUGE greenhouse, and stay in the 70ish degree weather whenever I want. These are some of the plants that are in the greenhouse.
I also feed the 23 chicken, 1 rooster, and collect the eggs. Usually we get anywhere 15-18 eggs each day, and sell a dozen for 3 dollars. When I broke one of the eggs they weren't yellow, they were orange! It just goes to show that the things grown on the farm are soooo much better for you! There are also cows, lots and lots of cows.

Till the next time I have access to the internet!

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Spring Update

So, just as an update on the who camera issue, I did get the Nikon D90. My dad got for me as a going-away present. I have had a lot of fun experimenting with it and the 2 lenses that I got with it. I am really liking the fact that I can adjust the aperture on the camera. I do, though, have to buy a micro lens. I can get into fairly close to the objects, but not as close as I would like. If you have any suggestions on one I should get, please let me know.

Okay, so now for what I was going to tell everyone. You may have wondered why I said my parents got the camera for me as a going-away present. Well, this whole summer and part of fall, I am going to be leaving my home, garden, and birds for a farm. I will be interning on a all organic cattle and produce and am extremely excited. The farm is called Flying J Farm, and is located near Johnstown, Ohio. You all should come and visit me. I am terrible with directions, so don't even try asking for them. Instead, just go to his website, and get the Google map. So that is all the excitement for me right now. I will be leaving next Wednesday, so wish me luck. I don't know how often I will be posting, since I would think I will be pretty busy, but I will try my best to keep you updated on my adventures on the farm.

The tulips are blooming right now. Not all of them, not even half, just the early ones. Two different types of tulips are blooming. They are Flaming Purissima, and Darwin Tulips. I couldn't find my tags for the Darwin tulips, but could for the Purissima. The Purissima grows 18in tall and blooms in early spring. They are pale pink with vainage of dark pink. Really beautiful.

P.S. A lot of people have asked me where they could get the copper looking bird feeder in my post on Safflower Seeds. I originally got it at Park's Seeds for $9.72. But they must of discontinued it, because I cannot find it on their site. I did a quick Google and found the same on on the online store, Birds-n-Gardens.

~Next post on Rain Barrels~

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Safflower

As you read my last post, on Getting Birds Into Your Backyard, I was going to post about Safflower Seeds. For a brief overview of the last post; there are two main steps to attract all sorts of birds.

1. Define what birds you want to attract.
2. Attracting birds into your backyard, and how to solve it.
3. Ways to attract birds.

To learn more, click this Link.

I have heard a lot on Safflower Seeds, in attracting Cardinals and other birds. Some people say that Safflower Seeds don't do anything for attracting birds, that squirrels love it, and that it is a complete wast of money. One the other spectrum, people say that this is a miracle seed that attracts tons of beneficial song birds, is squirrel resistant, and that it is not a waste of money. So what does one do when both sides are very adamant on their views. To find out for myself if this seed would live up to its reputation of being a miracle seed, I tried it myself.

When I went to the store to find some Safflower, I readily found it with the rest of the bird seeds. I picked up the smallest bag I could find (a 10lb bag), this way it wouldn't be a complete waste of money if it didn't work. For a 10lb bag, it cost me about $10, so 1 dollar per lb. Not too bad. I brought it home and loaded up a feeder that has been sitting in my room all winter, waiting for an opportunity to go out and be enjoyed! I set it outside in an open area, where birds could easily find it. I waited for about 3 days for a bid to come and eat the Safflower Seed, but I had no sign of birds. No empty seeds shells lying on the ground or bird waste lying on the ground. On the fourth day, to my great thrill, there was a purple finch on my feeder cautiously eating. It didn't take long for the word to get out that there was a new feeder in town. In that day alone I saw several Cardinal, a Chickadee, Purple Finches, and a Red Poll. I was flabbergasted, I didn't think this would work, but it did.
It was sort of humorous, because each time I would come to the door to see the birds, they would see me and fly away. Eventually they overcame this paranoia of me. The main purpose of this feeder was to attract Cardinals into my yard, and it worked, along with some extra bonuses. The most Cardinals I have seen came into the yard, due to the feeder, was 5. There were 4 females and one male.

Turn Out:
I think this was a very successful experiment. I do believe that Safflower Seeds attracts song birds and tends to deter squirrels. Although I have read that if squirrels are hungry enough, they will eat this seed. But overall "Their GRRRREAT"

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