Farm Fresh: Sprouted Barley for All

Last week hubby added the base boards and side strips to the high tunnel. Unfortunately, leveling (or trying to level) the baseboards made it clear how uneven the ground was. There was a giant crater where the old stump was and many other smaller dip and holes.  I generally would say tilling is bad for the soil.  However, in this case I think it was a necessary evil to get a level start and fill in the areas where there were gaps under the baseboards. 

  This week we borrowed a neighbor's tiller and hubby was able to get most of it smoothed out --with the ducks following along at sometimes suicidal closeness in their effort to snatch all the tasty worms and grubs that suddenly appeared near the surface of the soil.  Lots of compost and rabbit manure still needs to be added this winter.  I will probably try closing the chickens in there as well to let them till everything in and spread their manure. 

  We are still harvesting a lot of delicious things from the garden. Watermelon has been a huge success this year. Despite the dryness, only about half an inch of rain fell in September, the warmth and sunshine has them ripening long past their usual peak. I think we have harvested 7 so far with another 10 or more that we are impatiently waiting and debating on ripeness.   Plenty of tomatoes are coming in for salads and sandwiches with some extra to share with friends. Spinach, swiss chard, tomatoes and peppers made a lovely giant salad for our dinner last night (with olives and celery from the store).  The "cornito" and "lunchbox" varieties of peppers continue to ripen and produce abundantly despite the wild forest of sweet potato and watermelon vines that have taken over their half of the garden.  I am sort of looking forward to first frost so that I can get everything cleaned up on that side.

We have been feeding our livestock sprouted barley every other day.  They seem to really enjoy it.

Contrary to what the internet said, the poultry seem to also enjoy the sprouted grain -- from the youngest pullets on up.  I am guessing that they focus on the grains and I know the rabbits mostly eat the grass on top.

 We have more than 100 birds now ( 20 growing turkeys, 40 young roosters, 20 ducks, 15 guineas, and about 40 hens). Being able to give them an inexpensive alternative feed every other day has cut down on feed costs significantly.  Most of them will be sold by the end of the year, but I think feeding sprouts to the rest will help carry us through the winter.

 The chickens scratch it up before they eat it and the ducks chew on it.