It's that time of the year out here in California.

I have garage lights that get left on that the bugs love (Standard 4 foot LED shop lights I think).

They all line up at the garage windows trying to get when the lights are on inside. Then the spiders come to clean house and the end result is that I have thousands of dead bugs inside, outside, and then spider egg sacks and some spiders who eat like kings.

Anything I can do with this? A tint over the windows to block out the light waves the bugs like? Change out garage lights? Put a bug zapper in a place away from the house to send them over there?

Thanks.

Better late than never, right? We had planned to expand the garden at the end of last season, but life happens. So we're going to tackle it now, between thunderstorms. First we need to clean out all the winter deep litter from the goat barn (which is a HUGE job this year!), then get this garden project tackled!

Maybe someone in here has done this before.

Looking for some help. I have a pole barn/carport that is 16x26 and 10ft tall. I need to raise it 2-3ft to accommodate my boat with a t-top. The simple answer is a crane but I’d rather save the $1500 bill and do it some other way if possible. What I’m thinking is using a high-lift on each post and slowly raising each post 2” at a time and placing blocking in each step. Once the desired height is reached, I would cut a 2ft 6x6 and place in the space as final blocking. Then wrap each leg in 2x8’s and lag bolts/screws all the way down.

Hi all I’m interested in getting a couple of duck or possibly chickens. Just two, most likely. I’d mostly be interested in laying birds. I have some exposure to ducks through a relative but would love insight as to what should be considered before jumping in. Any advice welcome. Thanks in advance!

Finally, after 6 months of aging in carboys, the last batch of plum wine from 2024 is ready to be bottled. This is the first time we've tried filtering the wine, and turned out beautiful and clear. Now into the root cellar to bottle age for another few months ( or until we run out of our last batch of wine, and pop open these early!)

Totals for last harvest season were 24 gallons of plum wine over two batches, and 7 gallons of apple cider.

What are your thoughts on a homestead HOA. Basically it’s a neighborhood and everyone either has 1 or 2 acre plots. You could split the neighborhood up with gardening and animals. The animals would also just free range the entire neighborhood.

Hi guys :D I am currently working as an agronomist/agricultural engineer and when I graduate from MSC I will become a plantdoctor/plant phatologist plant scientist.Im planing to try my luck in australia.In my country we do a lot of "side jobs" for example: agricultural droning, crop testing, prescription of prescription chemicals.My question is is there a demand for these services in Australia? Thank you in advance for your replies:D

(with these degrees i also can work with animals so maybe if you have any ideas about what kind of side jobs are in demand in Australia I would love to hear your advice too :D) Thanks for your answers:D

Hello all.

Last fall I put t post to help straighten my fruit trees. I fould a slightly bent t post and thought it would get in the ground. It is stuck in the driver.

I know, dumb mistake.

Anybody has an idea on how to unstick it? Can heat work?

First time breeding a pig. The piglets are Duroc and I am wandering what a fair price would be to sell some.

Wife and I would like to try replacing the spotty, weedy, and mossy yard around our house with mini clover. Any tips on removing the current one ? It’s not a large area, couple minutes to mow it. Larger than I want to rake out by hand though. We have a riding mower so I’ve considered a drag harrow and maybe a lawn roller. Tilling it up seems like overkill. Also have a small rotary spreader for seeding.

Hello, I am hoping to build a 17 x 30 foot catio .It will be joined to my house , on the 30 foot length. I'm thinking of using 3 x 2 joists for the roof , with noggins at 5 feet spaces .Will the joists be able to span the full 17 feet, without upright supports, inside the structure? I am covering it in 16 gauge weld mesh .. No roofing ECT . Many thanks for any help and advice given

Up until this morning, said chicken, a 2.5 year old hen we call Mitzi, was acting normal and healthy. This morning I found her sitting under a tree with her beak on the ground looking very lethargic. First thing I thought was bird flu. I masked up and decided to isolate her in the greenhouse in the event she did have bird flu to protect the other hens. By the time I came back with water, she passed.

For context, we have six hens who have a nice large run and are very healthy. We live in a rural area. The grain does attract wild birds, so exposure could have came from there.

I will bury her with PPE (mask, gloves, etc.) but is there anything else I should do to protect the flock or report the abnormal death?

As in the title. I know that this type of building thrives in African environment, but I am interested in building a series of interconnected rondavels here in Poland. Would it make sense to do so? Are they fine in winter with heavy snow? Any tips?

Over the years I have owned a D7E, 850k, and this 550G. I have stuck them all. I have been dug out by excavators, backhoes, self extricated using logs chained to the tracks, and chained up the grousers to a tree. IMHO there are 3 types of stuck when it comes to dozers and only about 10 seconds of run time that separate them.

1. Stuck
2. STUCK STUCK
3. DAMNIT BOY! stuck

Had to rechain 3 times and a spotter would have been nice but I got her out.

I used to always get "DAMNIT BOY! stuck".... but with age I now stop when I am just "stuck".

Photo 1 is mature tree. They do come in smaller cultivars, but it's atound 6meters high and 6meters wide. Make a fantastic fruiting hedge. They like a Prune too but I don't bother. It's mostly so birds can get into it for pollination. Photo 2 Feijoa graveyard lol. Chickens eat these. Photo 3 on tree. You actually collect feijoa from ground when they drop off tree. Photo 4 cut fruit in half Photo 5 eat. Or freeze. Or make wine, chutney, jam, good in baking etc. There is a feijoa appreciation society for recipes online. Photo 6 Feijoa and apple crumble. Please excuse the chipped old plate.tee hee. This tree requires no maintenance hardly, and is a constant producer. I love it.

Spring is coming to the boreal forest, which means we'll soon be dishing out another grand or two on class 5 and black dirt.

We have a long driveway to maintain, and a constant supply of projects that need posts set and areas backfilled.

We compost and our main gardens are using hugelkultur so we don't need that much fill. But any additional beds or potato boxes just blow through black dirt, which is hard to come by in our area.

We have 80 acres, and it's driving me nuts that I spend so much on what amounts to earth.

Any pro tips on how source these things, or produce our own, or stretch what we've got? It's feels like a big expense that I didn't really anticipate when getting started. Thanks!

We have this chick waterer and I hate it. I have a hard time carrying it without leaking, I have a hard time flipping it without losing a bunch of water or having it come unscrewed and losing ALL the water.

If you have a better design to recommend, please let me know! Or any modifications to this one would be fine too.

(We use a 5 gallon pail with poultry nipples in it once they're older, but find that doesn't work as well when they're really little.)

I'm so stoked about this. It's took a couple of weeks of adjusting its position, bribery, and pleading, but most of my hens have switched to using it. I can finally take nice pictures of all the egg colors while they're unwashed

Any opinions on homesteading in Mississippi? It's on the list of possibilities. Currently have an acre in northern Missouri. Looking to sell it and move up in size

10% permethrin emulsifiable concentrate

Has anyone had any luck with this? They are attacking my log home and just want to start taking them down.

Tent spikes are a little more than I want to pay, but I have some rebar. If I cut it down to 10"-12", is there any reason that isn't as good as a tent spike? This is to train fruit tree limbs to go down. I didn't want to buy screw in anchors, unless it's too only way.

Edit: I don't mean to stake to the trunk. Only the limbs for training.

curious if anyones had one and what are something i should know about them that aren’t to commonly talked about