How to properly winterize your pepper plants

 Hello everyone,

First I would like to say thank you for taking the time to read our blog on what we do on the homestead/farm.  We are very thankful for each view and subscriber that we get. And with that being said our newest and latest blog is about how to winterize pepper plants.

If you are anything like me, I had no clue that pepper plants were perennials and could be winterized.  My mind was blown.  Every year I would buy new pepper plants and plant them because I had no clue that pepper plants would grow year round.  Like I said my mind was blown.

So last year I decided to try winterizing my plants and yes I know the winter has come and gone but I wanted to do it first before I wrote about it.  And drum roll please, it worked and I have 3 pepper plants that are ready and two of them already have leaves on them.  So the next steps are what I did to winterize them.

Before the first frost last year I went out to my garden and harvested all of the peppers not matter how small they were.  Then I began trimming the branches to where there were 3 v's on the plant.  So the main part of the plant that branched out to a v was one of the v's.  The other two v's were the nest most dominant branching on my plants off of the first v.  So one v on each branch making it 3 v's.  

After all the trimming of the branches and all of the leaves off I then carefully dug the plants up.  I tried my best to keep the roots intact.  Then I put some potting soil in pots and transplanted the plants into them.  Afterwards I watered the plants.  And then final step was to bring the plants inside until the last frost was over.  

Now I started with several plants but only three survived the process.  Make sure you water throughout the winter so that the plants can survive.  I am not sure if the lack of humidity in my house hurt the plants that died but this was a trial and error and my first time.  At then end of this year I will try it again and hopefully will have a nice greenhouse to put them in.  

Like I said earlier, thanks for reading our blog.  

Making Dog Treats Out of Old Chicken

     Have you ever read what is in the majority of the dog treats?  Why would they say it is not safe for human consumption?  Well if you read the ingredients you would definitely understand.  So we had some chicken breast from an older hen that had recently passed on.  An older chicken is good for stew meat due to they are so chewy and tough.  So while discussing what to do with the hen, our dog went over and sniffed her and then looked at us.  And wham there was an AHA moment!

    So we decided to make chicken jerky as dog treats.  We recently got an Elite Gourmet 5 Tier Food Dehydrator that we had not used yet and man it works like a charm.  (You can click the link to see where we purchased it on Amazon.)   We cut the chicken breast up into strips.  And then we marinated the strips in a marinade for 30 minutes.  After marinating the strips, we put them on the different racks of the food dehydrator.  We set the dehydrator to 140-158 degrees F and let it sit in there for 12 hours.  We would periodically check the strips and flip them over every 3 hours.  

    We put the strips on a rack and let them cool off for 15 minutes.  After that we decided to let our lab try the treats.  And drum roll...... She loved them! In fact our son's dog and mother in law's dog (who is very picky) couldn't get enough.  The treats were all natural from spices from our spice rack and chicken that we raised.  You could even use chicken from the store as well.  There were no GMO products used in these treats at all.  

    So if you would like to use a great food dehydrator click on the link above.  We are Amazon Affiliates and if you do click on it we do get a commission which helps with the farm, our podcast, and our YouTube videos.  

Our links above are from our Amazon Affiliate Program, please see the disclaimer below. 

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Amy Maria Watson Co. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide means for sites to earn advertising fees/ commissions by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

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As an Amazon Associate I earn a commission from qualifying purchases. My commission is earned when customers click the links and proceed to purchase item(s) or subscriptions. 

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Worm Castings and Roses

     Over the Mother's Day Weekend, we bought and planted two rose plants in our flower garden.  We noticed three weeks ago that one of the rose bushes was on the struggle bus and needed help. 

 The leaves were turning yellow to brown and that the growth was stunted along with no new flower buds.  However, the other rose bush was blossoming and thriving.  Needless to say, we were perplexed.  

    The two rose bushes were about a foot to 2 feet away from each other.  They both were watered regularly and had been fertilized with Miracle Gro Rose Plant food.  So why was the one on the right not thriving but looked sad.  So we decided to try worm castings on the rose bush.  It wouldn't hurt right?  I mean it looked as if it was already on death's door step.  

    So three weeks later, this rose that was on the struggle bus and waiting on the Grim Reaper has now flourished.  We put the worm castings around the base of the plant and watered it really well.  And by the end of the week, we noticed how the rose bush had perked up and there was new growth.  And now three weeks later the bush towers over the other one and has had more blooms than the other one.  In fact the rose bush has grown 18 inches since adding the worm castings.  It blew our minds.  Of course, we have used worm casting on fruit and vegetable plants but we have never used it on flowering plants.  We were thoroughly impressed.  

    Disclaimer is that not all results will be what we had.  We recommend that you test your soil prior to planting a garden or flowers.  However, if you want to give this product a try. You can purchase it through this link on our Amazon Affiliates: Worm Castings.  

Our links above are from our Amazon Affiliate Program, please see the disclaimer below. 

Disclaimer:

​

Amy Maria Watson Co. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide means for sites to earn advertising fees/ commissions by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

​

As an Amazon Associate I earn a commission from qualifying purchases. My commission is earned when customers click the links and proceed to purchase item(s) or subscriptions. 

I don't earn a commission based on "paid per clicks". Please note that purchasing items from the links provided on this website doesn't imply that you're getting a special discount, it just helps businesses like mine to earn a commission based on purchases promoted/ advertised on this website. 

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We have baby turkeys!!!

  Two weeks ago here on the homestead we were crushed when our Chocolate Turkey hen was killed by a predator. We only had 3 chocolate turkeys and only one of them was a hen. And not very many people know that chocolate turkeys are listed as critically endangered. To be honest that is the main reason why I ordered 5 poults last year. 

  Turkeys are extremely hard to raise and we lost 2 of those poults within a week of getting them. We were so happy that we had 3 adult chocolate turkeys. I know it's not much but I felt led to help with the conservation of them. And until 2 weeks ago I was so happy about how they were progressing. 

  So two weeks before Claudia's death, I had found 4 eggs that she had laid. So I decided to put them in the chicken nest box to see if one of my hens would set on them. And sure enough one did. And when Claudia died I took the 6 eggs she had laid and put them in the nest box with another hen. Now the last 6 won't hatch for another 2 to 3 weeks. But the first 4 hatched!!!!   The spirit of Claudia lives on. 

  Now 2 of the 4 poults survived their first day and the chicken hen realizing they weren't chicks didn't want anything to do with them (this is pure speculation). So I grabbed those two poults up and put them in a shoe box with a heat lamp. Now I am hoping for 6 more in 2 to 3 weeks. Just the hatching of the first 4 brought us full circle with our chocolate turkeys. And it feels great to help with the conservation of them. Now the hard part begins which is keeping these little ones alive until adulthood. 

Ode to Fancy

    So this blog is going to be a little different than the others.  This week started off a little rough for the A and B Homestead.  We have a variety of chickens and of course our 3 chocolate turkeys.  Of the variety we had polishes, barred rocks, blue plymouth rock, buff orpingtons, isa browns, and a silkie (named Fancy).  Each one of them have their own personality and attitude.  

    Fancy always stayed away from the chickens.  She seemed more comfortable around the turkeys.  She hated being in the chicken coop and would always find a way to escape.  She was our little Houdini.  Like the turkeys she liked to sleep under the stars.  She was the fighter and survivor of her set of eggs.  Two others hatched but she was the only one that survived.  

    Well at the ripe age of 8 months old was as far as she got.  There had been a lot of land clearing going on around us and every morning we would hear owls hooting everywhere.  Well Sunday morning I went out to feed the livestock and as I got to the chicken run I noticed an unusual amount of feathers everywhere.  When I got in there I noticed that those feathers were Fancy's and it appeared that she was attacked from above.  The worst part of this is that I found pieces of her in the coop and outside of the coop next to a large pine tree.  This confirmed my suspicion it was an owl.  

    Fancy was my wife's favorite chicken.  She would call her Miss Fancy Pants.  She will definitely be missed.  Since that morning we have not lost any other livestock.  I have seen a barred owl flying near the homestead, so I am going to assume that this will is the culprit.  Sometimes life is hard when you have pet livestock, especially when something as gruesome as this happens.  In 20/20 hindsight, I might need to put a mesh netting up to help protect the chickens from these aerial attacks.  However, with that being said Miss Fancy Pants I hope you are strutting your stuff and eating all the grains you can in chicken heaven.  

Where did my turkey hen go?

     Well on Sunday that is exactly what I said, "Where did my turkey hen go?"  I came home from going to the store and noticed that Claudia (our chocolate turkey hen) had disappeared.  I went against some advice about clipping her's and our toms' wings so they wouldn't fly out of our 700 sq ft run.  Earlier that morning I had heard some wild turkeys gobbling towards the back end of the property.  So naturally I thought she had flown the coop and ran to them.  Of course our two toms were pacing and gobbling franticly.  So I walked to the end of the property searching for her by calling her name but never found her.  Well about an hour later she showed back up and went right back into the coop again.  Well I didn't think much about it and went on about my business.  

    On Monday, during the middle of the day I heard our toms freaking out again.  As I went out to check on them I noticed that Claudia was missing again.  However, this time I heard her yelping back at the toms.  I went back to see where she was and I realized that she had a nest next to my shed.  I thought it was awesome but knowing that the coyotes have been getting closer to the house lately, I decided to take her egg and her back to the coop.  And then I put her nest in the coop under the chicken nest boxes.  I know its not a good idea but I wanted her to be safe.  Also, I clipped her primary flight feathers to be able to keep her in the coop.   

So now it has been 2 days and she now has 3 eggs and seems to be doing very well. Every once in a while a chicken hen will go over and look at the eggs and then jump into their nest boxes. For turkey hens, they love the privacy of a nest to where they can hide very well in their nest. In the wild, I have jumped several hens because I did not see the hens sitting on eggs. So if you are raising turkeys, you might want ot keep in mind that the hens will fly out and find a private area to lay their eggs.

How to fix a wet and sloppy chicken run and coop?

    So as this year started it has been very wet here in Georgia.  And in January and February, when it wasn't raining it was either really cold or not sunny so our run and coop would not dry out.  It was really annoying not only for us going to feed and water but for the chickens and turkeys.  So naturally we tried a few different things to try to remedy this problem.  

    Our chicken run and coop area is quite large (24 ft x 32 ft) and could get quite expensive to fix this issue. The first thing we tried was wheat straw.  And with our coop being so big it would take 4 to 5 bales of straw which turned out to be a little bit more expensive than what we wanted. With wheat straw it would soak in the moisture but didn't seem to soak in enough and the smell was not pleasant after it soak up the water.  So naturally we would rake it up and carry it off to our burn pile. 

    The next thing we tried was wood chips (cedar and pine).  Well just like the wheat straw this started racking up the cost of maintenance due to having to buy 4 bags or bales of wood chips.  Now the cedar chips gave off a great aromatic smell for a few days.  And both soaked up the water quite well.  Now the hardest part was the clean up.  It was way harder than cleaning up the wheat straw.  But we were not sure if we should take this off the proverbial chopping block yet.  

    So the final thing we tried happened to come by chance.  We were walking our dog and noticed the area where there were abundance of pine straw was quite dry underneath.  And the next day it looked like the pine straw was dry.  This was our AHA! moment.  So we raked up about 6 wheelbarrows full of pine straw and took it to the coop.  Within two days our coop was dray and the chickens were enjoying scratching under the pine straw.  And this didn't cost us a dime and had better results than the previous two methods.  Along with the pine straw we spread some diatomaceous earth around and even put some in a bin and the chickens and turkeys enjoyed that for dusting in.  

    After a few weeks of trial and error, we decided pine straw was the best for us.  In Georgia, there is an abundance of pine trees so it is very easy to come by.  This turned out to be cost effective and helped to even clean up our yard.  In other areas where pine trees are not abundance I would recommend a different method.  I have read where people put down sand and wheat straw and how that helps but I did not test this method out.  There is always a way to fix a wet and sloppy chicken run area.