One of the most fascinating, interesting, and useful skills you can take up is beekeeping. Lots of folks engage in the practice for the honey, either for themselves or to sell, but others do it specifically with the purpose of breeding bees or renting out their bees as a pollination service. There’s a surprising amount … Read more
Lambsquarters is a common weed that is often found growing in gardens and fields. The plant is easy to identify by its distinctively shaped leaves, which are divided into three parts and have a blue-green color. Lambsquarters are actually a type of goosefoot, and they are related to quinoa and spinach. But, like so many … Read more
Pretty much every gardener knows that the plants in your garden need potassium among all the other nutrients you have to give them. Nitrogen is critical and phosphorus is as always important, but it is potassium, more often than not, that’s imperative to good health across all the different species you might have. For instance, … Read more
Cilantro is a fascinating and highly divisive herb. Some people love it for the crisp, fresh note that it brings to foods, but other people swear that it tastes like soap or worse! But the haters can’t help it, and it turns out this hatred of cilantro is actually genetic. Regardless of which side of … Read more
Left of their own devices, chickens will graze and nibble on all sorts of plants, including ornamental plans that we would prefer they leave alone. Plenty of chicken owners have come out to check on their birds only to discover they have massacred their favorite perennials. How about roses, can chickens eat roses? Yes, chickens … Read more
Goats are popular thought to be animals that will eat just about anything. While it is true that they often have quite an appetite for their size, the reality is that they are far more discerning when it comes to food than most people realize. Goats are surprisingly picky eaters, and some things that you’d … Read more
If you’ve ever walked out to your garden or compost pile late at night, you might have caught a quick, furtive glance of these slimy, slithering, creatures in the undergrowth. Over a foot long, with a shovel-shaped head and powerful secreted toxin, hammerhead worms are invasive, persistent, and virtually indestructible predators that can wipe out … Read more
Most chicken owners already know that their chickens love all sorts of seeds and nuts. If you have big, beautiful oak trees growing on your property, you have probably already thought about feeding those plentiful acorns to your flock. But, like any good parent, you wanted to double-check first and here you are! So, can … Read more
Rabbits are herbivores, but contrary to popular belief, they don’t just eat grass. Rabbits actually eat a hugely varied diet consisting of all sorts of plant matter, specifically lots and lots of hay but also a great variety of vegetables, fruits and supplementary pellets. But not all things are good for your rabbits, even if … Read more
Ask anybody who is unsettled by insects what bothers them the most, and at least some of them are going to answer that it is their creepy eyes. Most insects have eyes that are beady, lifeless-looking, strange, or just too big. It’s enough to give you the willies! But how about our bee friends? How … Read more
If you’ve never been around rabbits, you probably think they’re totally silent. Whenever you see a rabbit it is just sitting there, trying to go unnoticed or else it is munching away on some tender grass or hay. But did you know that rabbits actually make a variety of different sounds, each with a different … Read more
Pretty much everyone, even people who didn’t grow up on a farm, know that sheep must be sheared of their wool. That is the only way to get it off of them to turn it into useful clothing, of course, but it’s also essential for the wellbeing of the sheep since they don’t lose it … Read more
It is a scene that all long time goat owners know entirely too well. Left unsupervised, or after a lucky escape attempt, your beloved goats managed to Chow down on your prized ornamental flowers or shrubs. All that work, care and effort wasted! It’s enough to make a person crazy. But, it’s not so bad, … Read more
If you own chickens, you already know that they are very adventurous eaters. Chickens will eat all kinds of things, from berries and plants to meat and bugs and just about everything in between. This also includes things that they probably shouldn’t be eating, like the food that we give to other animals in our … Read more
When you consider that geese are primarily herbivores, you immediately think of all the various plants that they can eat, including vegetables. But the more you think about it, you start to realize that geese really wouldn’t have access to a lot of produce in the wild, at least not most of the time. And … Read more
Everyone knows that honey is some seriously viscous, sticky stuff. It’s also surprisingly heavy. Ask any beekeeper that’s removing loaded frames from a beehive, and they will tell you they’ve got some heft to them. And this is more than just an interesting piece of trivia to know, because honey is typically sold by weight. … Read more