One of Earth’s original recyclers, earthworms are our planet’s greatest composters. Earthworms need few requirements to thrive; a dark, moist environment with plenty to eat is all they need. The result is nature’s perfect fertilizer. Your earthworms will consume old newspaper from your garage, coffee grounds, melon rinds, veggie scraps, …

To Kill a Honey Bee I was alarmed when I first heard about bee colonies collapsing in 2007; entire colonies of bees either dead or simply vanished. Fingers point to GMO crops, pesticides, parasitic mites, disease, etc. It’s such a dire situation apparently, Monsanto went on the offensive and publicly …

Warming the Winter Chicken Chickens all originated from the Jungle Cock in southeast Asia.  Southeast Asia is for the most part a warm and temperate place.  With the majority of breeds being bred for eggs, there are a few that are bred for cold hardiness.  Typically large bodied birds have …

Making Your Potting Mix 1 part wet wood stove pellet (make sure its pure wood) 1 part fine pine bark 1 part peat moss (optional) can substitute coconut coir instead of peat 1 part coarse sand For a starter soil you want something fine and light.  You also want to …

Coquito Egg Nog Recipe Here is an easy and quite tasty eggnog recipe with a Puerto Rican style.  It’s not all completely from scratch but its good.  Its a good way to use the food storage to rotate some canned goods if you want to use that excuse. 1 egg …

Happy People:  A Year in the Taiga I ran across this film on Netflix.  On occasion, I will watch documentaries, as I don’t really find mainstream entertainment all that entertaining. I decided to watch it thinking that it might be interesting to see how other cultures live. After all, our …

I found out today that our friend Wayne Childress has passed away.  Wayne was very helpful in the formative times, especially, of DIYSeattle.  He was very knowledgeable and patient.  He will be missed as a valued friend and a valuable resource in the poultry community. I don’t know if he …

Collecting Celery Seeds To collect celery seed you need to wait until the seeds are dry and brown.  Hold a bowl underneath them as you roll the seeds between your fingers.  If they don’t fall out into the bowl then they aren’t ready anyway.  With some practice you can hold …

The New Iowa Blue Breed As an early 1900’s type chicken, the Iowa Blue was created at a time when chickens were expected to do more than simply lay eggs and produce meat. In the time period starting in the middle to late 1800’s till the 1940’s and 50’s, breeds …