Low odor, cheap, eco friendly cat litter!

Update!  The latest and last poop on cat litter.
I have one cat that I could cheerfully drop kick out the front door.  Okay, maybe not. 

Here's the shorter version:

Cat would leave me a 'present' between the litter boxes.  She didn't like the Tractor Supply horse bedding pellets ($6 for a 40 pound bag) that is just like Feline Pine Cat Litter....but way cheaper. I tried misting the pine pellets so they wouldn't be so crunchy.  No luck.  Every day there was a 'present' between the boxes.  At least Cat whizzed in the box.

Cat did like expensive silicone, clumping litter.  Scented stuff just made me cough, gag, I hated it.  Next we got unscented.  Cat was okay with that, I still hated it.  I hated messing with big clumps of wet goop, hated knowing that it wasn't the best thing for Cat(s), hated the tracking, hated the expense, hated hauling it home. 

What is still working after two weeks of trial:
Cheap potting soil
Grass from our yard

After reading elsewhere about using dried grass clippings for cat litter, the light bulb went off.  Last year I raked up some grass clippings, threw some in the chicken coop and sprinkled some on the goat bedding.  I was amazed at how much better both areas smelled.  Fresh cut grass does smell pretty good, doesn't it.  And it does have some odor control qualities.

Back to Cat's box: I started with some newspaper on the bottom of the litterbox.  I added about 2" or less of potting soil and a sprinkle of grass that we yanked up.  That night I could tell it was working pretty good.  The next morning I decided to pull out the newspaper.  We don't use a trash service and I wanted something that I could just dump in an out of the way place.  I didn't want Cat's newspapers blowing all over the county.  Anyway, after pulling out the newspaper, I scooped the poops (plus an obvious damp area) and added some more grass clippings with a sprinkle of potting soil.  I haven't dumped the entire box yet after two weeks, but I have scooped out wet areas.  I planned on dumping the entire box weekly and rinsing it out.

The best thing about this is that a $2 bag of potting soil from the Dollar Store will probably last a good month.  It has that natural feel when Cat is in the box.  The grass is free and really does help with odor control.  I sprinkle some grass in the box with the pine litter, too.

Cat ate some of the grass, upchucked it after a bit, but only on the first day.  We also bought some small mats to put in front of the litter boxes.  That has helped with the tracking.

We use a riding mower, but now we are storing our son's push mower with a bag.   Let's see, cat litter, mulch in the garden, goat bedding, litter for the chicken coop...I'm smiling.  It's the simple things in life.  :o)

Fermented Feed for Chickens

If you aren't fermenting feed for your chickens, it's time to get started. 

Fermenting their feed boosts the nuitrition and will result in:
1.  Healthier chickens
2.  Lower feed costs for you.

Did you catch that?  Healthier chickens AND lower feed costs!  Most people report that they save about 1/3 of the feed cost.

Sounds like a win/win to me!  To read all the details about it, go to Leigh's site at http://naturalchickenkeeping.blogspot.com/p/fermented-feed.html  and plan on being there for a while.  She has tons of information with practical, natural ways for flock management.  Make sure you read her posts on Gnarly Bunch on the Healing Story tab.  The chapters are short and to the point (with pictures) that show amazing progress with a mistreated flock of chickens.  There's the proof that her methods are the best!

Back to fermented feeds.  You're going to have to decided which way works for you.  Right now the easiest thing for me is using some Folger's plastic coffee cans (cannisters?), a couple pieces of thin material and a couple big rubber bands.

I filled two cans about 1/3 to 1/2 full of scratch grains.  I then added water to cover the grains plus about an inch.  Then I gave both cans a glug of apple cider vinegar with the mother (Bragg's is one brand, I make my own).  I gave both cans a quick stir, covered the opening with the cloth and secured with the rubber band.  I put the cans in a warm, out of the way spot.

The next day, I poured the liquid from one can into another one that had dry grains.  I just slowly poured through the material covering the top of the can.  I added a bit more water to the new grains, gave it a swirl, covered with the now wet on one side cloth and set it aside. I was surprised at how much the grains swelled up. Fed wet grains to chickens and ducks.  Only half of them ate at first, but the next time I went outside, all of it was cleaned up.

The day after that, I used the now two day old can of grains, drained the liquid into another can of dry grains, etc etc.  This time all the feathered critters just chowed down. 

By letting the cans sit for two days, there's more time for fermenting.  The liquid is now milky and has always smelled somewhat yeasty.  I almost always have to add some water to the new can and sometimes I give it an extra shot of ACV.

My chickens are still free ranging and there is still green things/weed seeds, etc that they can eat.  As the cold weather progresses, I'll come up with a bigger bucket system.  I also want to try sprouting grains for the birds, but that's another page.

photo credit: Wikipedia



Free Chicken Food and the Self Sufficient Life

In the spirit of being frugal and trying to live a self sufficient life, I have been gathering/harvesting for my chickens and guinea fowl.  My goals were to get plant material for mulch, seeds from the weeds for free food and something for them to scratch in to keep them occupied on the days that they aren't able to free range.  With a thick enough layer of mulch, maybe the ground won't be frozen solid on some of the sunny winter days.  And of course, that helps to support bug life which is more free food later.  We have an enclosed run behind the coop and a fenced area in front of the coop.

Probably the best move I made with this last bunch of chicks was giving them ragweed for treats when they were still caged up in the enclosed run.  Now when they're free ranging, they still chow down ragweed and lambsquarter.  So I cut off ragweed, lambsquarter and a few other grassy looking plants that I have no name for, and put them in both runs.  When the leaves dried and fell off the plants, it looked almost like hay.  The chickens were going nuts in there, scratching and digging.  Now, it's just a pile of dry weed stalks.  The rain and sun have bleached the plant material.  But when I lift the stalks, the scratching starts again.

This late in the season, all the weeds have seeds.  Ha!  More free food for the chickens. We hauled in more weeds and grasses that we had pulled up or cut down.  If we had the room, I'd be cutting big weeds and hanging or storing them to dry (away from rain and sunlight). 

Last year I threw scratch grains into the front run every morning.  They always have access to feed in the coop, but they like the scratching outside more.  This past spring, there was a jungle of plant life in their front yard!  Lots of milo, millet, sunflowers, wheat, etc.  What didn't get eaten grew into plants which held moisture and offered shade during our hot, drought stricken summer.  And of course, more free food. 
Of course, the birds get all the egg shells, fruit peelings, etc.  But now I throw everything into one of the runs.  Last year there were three volunteer tomato plants in there from the previous years scraps. 

I would have a hard time stocking up on chow if I kept feeding it to critters as treats while I gathered.  So now, as I have bread ends, cracker crumbs, crumbles from the cat and dog food bags, etc, they are saved and put into the feeders or the metal trash can that I store their purchased grains in. I just make sure it's all good and dry.

And of course, there's always the gardening aspect of it all - pumpkins, squash, etc, etc.  But this wasn't the best gardening year in our area, so I have nothing other than some buggy tomatoes.

In my search for new ideas on this topic, I saw a blog post where a gal engaged the help of her little kids to gather jars of dandelion seeds.  Later in the winter, she sprouted them for her little flock!  She had the pics for proof.  I wish I had bookmarked her page!!  I also wish that I could hire her kids.

Anyway, here's yet another page with pictures of common weeds that you might be able to use for chicken feed:

http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2009/05/chickens-eat-my-weeds.html

How to Ripen Hard Pears

For the past few weeks, I have been gathering - harvesting what I can (which is very little) and foraging for winter feed and bedding for the critters by using what resources I have available on our land. 

I picked pears from my neighbor's tree...twice.  I had to go back the second time for another 5 gallon bucket of them after I read how to ripen them.  Seems that if you have access to one of those ancient varieties of pears (you know the kind, you can cook them for two hours and they never seem to get soft), put them in the frig for a minimum of two days.  The pears can even be stored clear down to 30 degrees F without freezing (they say).  But they need that cold storage to ripen without having core breakdown.

After the cold storage, ripen on the counter or in a closed cardboard box.  Just don't forget to check them every couple of days to pull out the ripe ones.

It worked for me.  Today I was eating little, nicely ripened pears again.  With juice dripping off my fingers as I peeled them, I accepted the fact that at my current rate of consumption, there would not be any left for preserving.  That is, unless I go get some more!

More Uses for Orange or Citrus Peels



Image from ifood.tv


I love orange peel.  You can just make so dang much with it.  For some time I have just put peels in vinegar and made homemade orange oil cleaner .  That's when I wasn't eating them candied with sugar or with chocolate this way. 

Now I'm going a little crazy with the peels.

So here's the latest:

I added some orange peel to homemade soap. 
I just put the peel on a plate and let it air dry until it was really dry and crispy.  After a couple weeks (I forgot about 'em) the peels went into my Magic Bullet hand blender and I gave 'em a good whirl.  I ended up with orange peel dust (and ringing ears, it was pretty noisy).  I added some to the soap at trace (it was just castile soap, nothing fancy).  I was experimenting to see if there would be some noticeable orange fragrance in the soap.  There was some, but not for long.  The unexpected thing was that the soap cleared up the acne on my friend's face.  She still talks about it.  Maybe she's trying to drop a hint, eh?

Scouring powder
Simple ingredients, using 5 Tbsp of baking soda, 3 Tbsp of Borax and 3 Tbsp of ground citrus peels.  Crunchy Betty uses grapefruit peels to make hers.  She's so cool.

Next on the list is Orange-cello .  Vodka and orange peels?  Wow.  Other recipes here are orange and olive oil salt and orange butter!

Salt preserved orange or lemon peel ?  Sounds good to me.

Cupcakes!!  Baking cupcakes or muffins in orange peel?  Who'da thought it.  Check it out at Beyond A Garden . 

Care2.com lists 22 ways to use lemon peel .

And I didn't even bother to TRY to count all the uses for citrus peels listed at Local Kitchen .



Credit: iStockphoto/Alessandro Marzo



ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2010) — Scientists may have just made the breakthrough of a lifetime, turning discarded fruit peels and other throwaways into cheap, clean fuel to power the world's vehicles.

That sounds a little familiar...

Getting Rid of Fleas, the Cheap and Green Way.

Fleas.  I hate 'em. 

It's been a tremendously bad year for bugs here.  We have two boxers that are in and out the back door, so now they have fleas.  I should say WE have fleas.  What I really hate is that my dogs have fleas...uh.. on their rear ends.  In some research, a vet referred to them as "asshole" fleas.  That pretty much says it all.

Alrighty, then.  First thing I did was fill up an empty shaker bottle (it used to have cinnamon in it) with some DE (diatomaceous earth).  It was an easy way to powder my dog's butts and undercarriage.  Yes.  And under the tail-ish.  I'd sprinkle it in my hand and just pat away.  The dogs ended up loving this extra attention.  I ended up wishing I had a brain scrubber.  We had the male dog neutered when we adopted him, but you know......  Try to keep the dust down and be careful if you're going close to their face.

I powdered dog butts two or three times a day for about a week before our dogs totally quit trying to scratch (they couldn't reach the area!).  Remember that it takes a bit of time for the flea to die, plus most likely, there are fleas in various cycles. 

That's step one.  Next is to attack the yard!  It doesn't do any good to treat Fido if you aren't going to deal with the area where he's getting the fleas to begin with.  Get a couple boxes of Borax from the laundry aisle of your local store.  Sprinkle that all over the yard where Fido runs.  Do it again the next day.  Water it in a bit if you want to.  It will stay effective for all kinds of bugs for two to three years.  DE won't work after it's wet, but Borax will.

Back to the house.  Dogs powdered, yard treated.  Now wash their bedding and vacuum, vacuum.  You can sprinkle some Borax or DE in the vacuum bag to take care of any fleas that end up in there.  If you have a bagless unit, don't just empty the cannister in the kitchen trash or you'll have recycled fleas.  You have to be vigilant with vacuuming.  Every day.  Every crack (not dog crack, though).  Plan on doing this for a few days.

It took about a week or so for our dogs to quit scratching.  Initially they stopped scratching after a few days, then started again for a couple days.  I'm guessing it was the last batch of flea eggs that hatched and we're done with them.

One of the best pages I have read about fleas is Paul's: http://www.richsoil.com/flea-control.jsp
He doesn't like Borax, but since I'm not using tons of it that often, I'm not afraid of it.  People have added it to their laundry wash for generations.  You decide what you're going to use.  :o)