Spring is almost here.

So it's been a while since I've updated this. There has been a fair amount that I have worked on. The biggest project that is nearly complete is my pigeon pen. That's right. I'm going to be raising pigeons for meat. I've done a lot of research, and talked to a few locals who raise them, and I think I've got a fairly good handle on what is going to be required. I chose pigeons because they multiply like crazy, and they're great parents. I won't have to incubate any eggs, or brood any chicks. That's more work than I want. The parent pigeons do all the work. They lay the eggs, and feed the young, until about 30 days when they're big enough to butcher. I'm really excited. The previous owners of the home left this large wooden swing set in the backyard. It was rickety and ugly, and my wife wanted me to take it down. So instead, I built a pigeon coop out of it. It is completed except for the nesting boxes, and should be able to bust those out in an afternoon. I haven't gotten any birds yet, but they're not hard to find. People sell them all over the place for 5 bucks a bird. Soon I'll have me a good little flock of birds. One pigeon raiser is going to give me an old breeding pair that does real well. That'll be a good start. Other ones that I buy will most likely be yearlings, so I may not get any young from them very soon, but we'll see. I'd like to have about 6 solid breeding pairs. That should give me a fairly constant supply of meat. Since it's nearly spring, i'm starting to get my garden ready as well. That is turning out to be a lot of work. The previous owners had a garden, but they dedicated a solid third of it to a walking path right down the middle of it going to the shed. I think that's a terrible waste of precious space, so I'm removing the concrete barriers that they have and making it all garden area. The only problem; they put large gravel in for the walkway, and it's been years, so the rocks have settled down into the soil. My area already has rocky soil, so I have built a rock sifter and am sifting out all rocks bigger than a dime one painful shovel full at a time. It takes a lot of work, but the soil that it leaves behind is oh so good. I just planted a fair number of plants in my indoor planter, the ones that need to be planted indoors 4-6 weeks before the last frost of the year. I'm not an excellent gardener yet, so we'll see how it goes. As far as my rabbits go, a couple of them should be pregnant. hopefully, I'll have some babies here in about 3 weeks or so. Also, all my fish in a barrel are dead. Turns out they can't survive when the barrel nearly completely freezes over. I'll try again here in a few weeks now that winder is almost over.