Mrs. David's Garden Seeds®

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Rabbit Manure

If you have bunnies, collect the rabbit manure, and dry it out in the sun. Then mix it in with your garden beds either before you plant or put into planted garden beds.

Rabbit Manure - 5/1-5/7/2023

Monday, May 1, 2023

Happy May 1! It is Monday and it has been a busy one! Currently, it is 1:46pm, 82° and bright and sunny. We have had several customers. I have been busy since sun up. I rushed out to check on the baby chicks before 7am and they are doing well. In fact, all nine came down this morning, so I moved the food and water down to their run so that is less mess up where they live because they keep pooping in it.

Then, I fed and watered the chickens, the guineas, and the rabbits. After that, I cleaned all of the baby chick feeders and waterers from the brooder and I cleaned all of the chick poo off the top of the radiant heater. I filled the galvanized tub with soap and water and it is still soaking as we speak. I will dump it later with help. Then it has to be rinsed out and dried for the next batch of chicks. They will be coming in just 22 days.

After that, I watered all of the plants by my greenhouse. I opened the Farm Store, fed the fish, cleaned the pond, filled it with new water and watered all of the plants and beds out here. Currently, I am watering the zinnia beds in front of the Farm Store.I watered all of these on Saturday but it has been in the 90s each day so everything needs more water.

I fixed all of our plant listings because some folks are ordering our plants online. We do not ship live plants so I had to add that to the listings.

David sent out strawberry plants to be added for sale. I didn't even know he had any back there in his greenhouse.

Then I made an online Tractor Supply order because the local ones don't have the chick feed and chick grit that I need for my babies.

David wants me to make a meatloaf for dinner tonight. I am already exhausted enough. Not sure I will have energy for that after a full day.

David picked a beautiful Atomic Red Carrot this morning and said there are more to be picked along with mulberries, strawberries, peaches, green onions, and possibly some more asparagus in the jungle of asparagus ferns.

I have 12 Tennessee Red peanut plants that have come up. None of the Virginia Jumbos germinated so that is disappointing. The potato plants are doing phenomenally well and I hope that my sweet potato vines ship soon.

Everything on the farm right now is vibrant and green. Hopefully, the Lord will continue to bless us with rain and cool temperatures this year.

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Rabbit Manure

Back in 2020, we bought some rabbits because David used to raise rabbits in high school for FFA (Future Farmers of America). We drove a few hours away to the largest rabbit farm in Texas and we bought two rabbits, a male and a female, both six months old. They procreated several times. Soon some of their babies had babies.

Then several of them were butchered for meat. Others died. Somehow, we ended up with four females when the last male died in early 2022. We have not yet bought anymore males so our rabbit meat has stopped production.

At that time, we found out that rabbit manure does not burn plants when it is added to a growing garden. Unlike many other animal manures, you can add rabbit manure directly to your garden bed with plants growing in it with no harm to your plants. Chicken manure and cow manure have to be composted before adding it to the garden. If you do not compost them, they will destroy your plants.

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Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Today it is cool and overcast. I started the morning by going out to see if my chicks were okay. They were. I opened the door and all nine chicks came down to get water. They did not touch the food for a while. A little while later, most of the food was gone. I have put more food in several times since then. They are growing fast. I actually put another water inside their upstairs quarters since they were so thirsty this morning.

Matt got here while I was tending to the baby chicks early this morning. He went into the big coop and discovered one of my Ameraucanas dead with a broken neck. I think maybe there was a fight in the night and she was pushed off the top of the nesting boxes where she liked to roost for the night. I feel so bad. It is a huge coop and there is plenty of room and roosting areas for them all to be happy. I am glad Matt found her and not me. Thank you, Matt, for taking care of that for me. So sad.

After we finished with the animals, I got a basket and picked a ton of peaches, mulberries, and strawberries. Then it was time to open the store and I still had to run in and get dressed and ready for the day.

I should have worn gloves to pick the mulberries. My fingers and nails are all stained dark purple now. I plan to dehydrate what I picked today. I washed them all a little later, after I had opened the store but have not had time since to do anything with them.

Nacho and his crew are here today doing various things for David around the farm. My Greenstalk planters showed up late yesterday and we will set those up near the gazebo and get them planted soon.

Currently it is 2:45pm and 79°, overcast, and breezy. It actually feels amazing outside.

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Rabbit Manure - How To Use It

Now, as I stated yesterday, you do not need to compost rabbit manure before you use it. Just apply it directly, either fresh or dried, to the soil or under the plant if there is already one growing in the garden. As you water and as it rains, the rabbit manure will gradually disintegrate into the soil bringing wanted nitrogen to your plants.

Some people will compost their rabbit manure even though it is not necessary. That is fine because once you add the compost to your garden soil, your plants will reap all of the benefits of rabbit manure.

It is fine to put in your garden without having to worry about it burning your plants. Some gardeners put a heaping scoop of rabbit manure in the bottom of a five gallon bucket and add water. They let it sit there, stirring once a day or so for several days, making a "tea" to water their garden with. This is fine to do but not necessary. Either one of the three ways to use rabbit manure in the garden will benefit your plants.

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Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Today was an extremely busy day. I started by going out to check on the baby chicks. They did well over night and hopped on out to eat. When I walk by, most of them run back up the ramp because they are scared but then they come back down again. The air was pleasant with a cool breeze. The skies stayed overcast until late afternoon.

At 9am, David and I left to go shopping in Devine for snacks and drinks for the store. We haven't had much in a long time in there.

When we got back, Michelle was here cleaning the house with one of her daughters. I spent most of the day adding items into the cash register system, figuring out prices, and stocking them in baskets and refrigerators. Thank you to Brendon and Matt who helped me stock.

David decided that I need to start selling some baked treats in the store so I will be doing that. Before I can do that, I have to take an online course and get a Food Handler's card so maybe sometime this weekend.

We had a few customers but not many. One lady came in asking for lemon grass plants. I had six left that I grew from seed in my back plant area. I got them and she took all six. I think I will be starting more lemon grass plants.

We have two Yellow Wonder strawberry plants left. The Red Wonder and Mignonette strawberry plants are sold out. I told you they would go fast. David has a few more that he has started in the back but right now they are tiny.

At 5:30pm, we left to have dinner with our neighbors up at Triple C in Devine. This is the neighbor who has the field next to us that we would like to buy. With sales not up to par, we just don't have the money to do it now. We have been asking around and seed sales are down across the industry. David thinks folks are finally using up the seeds they bought in 2020 during Covid. I think they just don't have the extra cash because all of the prices of everything have jumped up. Food and supply prices are ridiculous. So we are having to put that purchase on hold. We had a good visit.

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Rabbit Manure - Benefits

There are benefits to using bunny poop instead of other animal manures in your garden.

First, rabbit manure is what is considered to be cold. It is ready to use and will not burn plants when you apply it fresh or dried to your garden. Hot manure needs to be composted or it will burn your plants.

Rabbit manure does not smell bad like many other animal manures do.

Rabbit manure is a 2-1-1 which means it contains two parts nitrogen, one part phosphorus, and one part potassium. For more information on what this means, see my NPK fertilizer article here.

Rabbit fertilizer is fairly inexpensive. In fact, you can buy it right here at David's Garden Seeds® Farm Store or get some bunnies of your own and collect it every day for your garden.

Rabbit manure improves your soil and helps the soil maintain moisture.

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Thursday, May 4, 2023

Good Thursday morning. I am about to go out and pick some plants from my backyard to take out front for sale. They are too heavy for me to move but some of our people will help. I need to go out now and see which ones. It is overcast and 70° right now.

We moved a bunch of plants out to the front. I reorganized the plants in the parking lot by category. I need to transplant a bunch of them back in my plant area but there is never time. I had to water everything back there and in the parking lot area.

In the store, we got a shipment of pecan goodies in. I had to add all of them into our system and then price and stock them in the store. We have a lot of new stuff. I want to eat it all. The store looks good.

If you want farm fresh eggs for $5 a dozen (or 6 for $2.50), I have eight dozen eggs left today. Of course, we close in 50 minutes.

Alexa tells me it will rain at 4pm. It is now 4:11pm and so far nothing but clouds. It has been overcast and humid all day long. It is 82°.

David and Matt went for father/son makeovers again. They look fresh. I need to go but who has time?

This evening I made spaghetti and then went out and transplanted 11 citronella plants into bigger pots. There are another seven citronella plants that need to be transplanted. Also, there are a lot of other plants that need to be separated and transplanted before they can be sold.

Some horrible beetles and caterpillars are eating my potato plants. David had the guys spray them today. Then I found caterpillars on some of the other plants. I hope the spray works. I am just disgusted by it.

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Rabbit Manure - How Often Should I Use It?

Really, how often you fertilize your garden depends on what you are growing. When the plants are seedlings, you can add a small amount to the soil. Then add rabbit manure as a top dressing to the soil every two months.

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Friday, May 5, 2023

Good Friday morning! I got up early and took care of all of the animals myself. After that, I finished transplanting all of the citronella in the back. It has now been moved up to the front. The smaller citronella plants are $8.95 and the larger ones are $11.95. We sell out of citronella every spring so if you want some, come and get it. I have 20 plants right now. They will spread out and big pretty quickly.

Matt loaded up the truck to take seeds to UPS to ship up to Amazon. He also took Pamela and Sue Ellen to be groomed.

I have nine dozen eggs in the Farm Store refrigerator today as well as sodas and water. We just got all new snacks, including delicious pecan snacks and pecan coffee. If you are in the area and you want a snack and/or a cold drink, come on by. There are chocolate pecan popcorn and caramel pecan popcorn, even a green jalapeno pecan brittle! Four kinds of honey butter are in adorable little mug jars.

I just cleaned the pond again and I am filling it now. We had a few customers during lunch. It is now 2pm and 87° Fahrenheit with 63% humidity. It feels like 90%. I walk outside and start sweating. I already had to change clothes. I was sopping wet when I was transplanting the citronella early this morning.

This afternoon, some of the guys cleared out the den and moved furniture out of the way because our new den furniture comes tomorrow morning.

Late this afternoon, I took the online Foodhandler's card course and got my foodhandler's card so now I am ready to start baking things to sell in the store. I love to bake. The hard part will be finding time to do it.

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Rabbit Manure

If you have a lot of rabbit manure from your own rabbits, more than you can easily use in your garden beds, you can dry it out and store it in a bin or a five gallon bucket. It will last longer than if you try to store it while wet. In fact, if you store it before it is dry, it will get moldy. Yes, we are speaking from experience. We packaged some rabbit manure that was not completely dry and it turned moldy so we had to toss it.

Above is how we do it. We collect the rabbit manure from beneath the rabbit compartments. Then we single layer it in trays and put it out behind our greenhouse where there is a fan going. It helps dry the rabbit manure out quicker. Once it is totally dry, we bag it and sell it in our Farm Store. Of course, we use our rabbit manure in our gardens as well.

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Saturday, May 6, 2023

Signs

We got some new signs. I hate putting these on the gazebo by the pond but I am sick of kids throwing papers, sticks, stones, and weeds in it. Maybe some of the parents will pay attention to the signs. A woman on a community page on Facebook said we are not family friendly because we don't want kids trying to kill our expensive Koi fish by throwing rocks at them. She said we should be teaching them how to plant and allowing them to dig in the dirt if they can't throw rocks in our lined pond. What?

On Saturdays, when we have a lot of people, there is no one else here. Honestly, we can't get anyone to work on a Saturday. We have had this same problem since we started. Nobody wants to work on Saturdays but that is when we get the most customers so it always has to be me. When people are here on Saturdays, I am busy helping them find seeds and ringing them up so we can get paid. Running our business and store is our bread and butter. In fact, six households run off of our business.

So I don't have time to babysit children nor is it our responsibility to pay someone to find activities for your children to do while you shop. Either watch your children and make them behave or leave them at home and pay a babysitter. We don't have a place for your kids to tear up our property while they dig in the ground and plant unwanted flowers. Let them do that in their own yard. We are a professional business and we want everything looking great. People are unbelievable.

We also got two signs for the gate that say what we have...

Today

I got up early and got all of the animals indoors and outside fed. The baby chicks are loving their new home. Then I proceeded to water my garden. After that, I checked on my potatoes. I think they are doing better now that the bugs are dead. I found a few eggplant plants mixed in with my row of potatoes, volunteers from last summer!

I need to get the brooder for the new chicks who are coming ready. They will be here in about 17 days by USPS. When they get to my local post office, the post master will call me to say they are in around 7am or so. Then we have to drive down (12 miles away) and pick them up.

I opened the store around 9:50am and watered everything out there. We had a car of three ladies who wanted to do pick your own carrots and green onions. David took them out back since no one else is here to do it. They picked a huge bunch of large green onions and a bunch of colored carrots. $5 for each bunch. So that is how we are charging--$5 per huge bunch of vegetable.

Then our furniture came. The two guys got it unloaded and put together and left. However, we need to change the configuration so Matt is here doing that. There is no room for David's end table and he needs it.

I am in the store for another 53 minutes. Then I can go deal with my new furniture. Brendon wants our loveseat so he is on the way out to get it.

We have a wood chipper coming so we can start making our own mulch. We will be chipping up a huge pile of tree branches that our neighbor has in his yard next to the pond.

I just heard a foreign type noise and looked outside. It is rain but I don't think it will last long. It didn't. We got about 60 seconds worth. Alexa said it would not rain until 7pm. Of course, it has been overcast all day long and it is so humid. Right now it is 85°.

I need to put together the two new Greenstalk planters outside by the gazebo. I have the seeds all picked out and wrote the tags for them.

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo so festivities are happening all over which is why we are not getting customers for the fourth week in a row. First it was the Poteet Strawberry Festival. Then the next two Saturdays it was Fiesta in San Antonio. Now Cinco de Mayo. Next Sunday is Mother's Day. Hopefully, we will start getting business back by then. Come and buy your mom a plant or some pecan treats or coffee for Mother's Day. Don't forget a dozen farm fresh, colorful eggs from my chickens.

So we ended up with hardly anyone coming out which worked well. Our furniture arrived at 11:30am and I needed to be at the house. Then Brendon showed up to pick up our loveseat but he couldn't get a truck. Matt drove the loveseat with our truck into San Antonio for Brendon. Just as they got it unloaded, there was a big storm in San Antonio but not here.

I closed the store at 2pm and started doing indoor things. One thing I did was bake more lemon squares. I cut several of them for my two lovely neighbor ladies, Carolyn and Tootie who barely got to taste them last Sunday.

We made a Tomahawk ribeye steak in the oven this evening. It came out incredible. You broil it for about 20 minutes for medium rare, flipping it at the halfway point. It was downright delicious. I served corn on the cob, freshly made guacamole, and roasted potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms with it. We topped the meal off with some delicious lemon bars. It was all so good!

The Svengoolie movie was one I had never seen before, Blackula made in 1972. It was funny, weird, and a bit scary with a lot of blood. Yuck. Our new couch is crazy comfortable and we all took turns dozing off during the movie.

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Rabbit Manure - Pellets

Most rabbit manure comes out looking like little brown pebbles. This is exactly what you need for your plants. Surprisingly, a rabbit makes 200 to 300 pellets per day so if you have a few rabbits, it adds up fast. Go build some garden beds and get some good garden soil to mix the pellets in. They will really help your garden to grow some wonderful fruits and vegetables to eat this spring and summer. No, rabbit poop is not dangerous for humans when you add it to the soil in your garden area.

You can scoop it up and use it fresh in your plant beds or pots daily. Who doesn't want to use an all-natural, organic fertilizer on their plants, especially if you get it free every day? Remember, if you don't have rabbits, David's Garden Seeds® has got you covered. We have plenty of rabbit manure!

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Sunday, May 7, 2023

Good Sunday morning! David made waffles and eggs while I was outside tending to all of our animals. I really do think we have a Foghorn Leghorn amongst the new chicks, don't you?

The sky is overcast with a bit of thunder and lightning. Every once in a while it would sprinkle the whole time I was out there this morning.

I was sort of hoping that I would be able to get those two Greenstalk planters put together today but if it is going to rain, there is plenty more I can do around here. There is always something to do when you have your own business plus a farm with gardens and animals, not to mention a house that I don't get to do much in because I am always so busy working outside the home. I just do not understand people who say they are bored. Why don't they work? I would love to have some free time. Know what I mean, Vern?

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Rabbit Manure

I have been reading articles on the benefits of having pet rabbits. They go through the whole gamut of intelligence, understanding words, softness, trainable, etc. If you are a gardener, the biggest benefit of having rabbits is getting their manure to fertilize your plants! Am I right? Yes, I am. When you add rabbit poo to your garden beds, the plants get happy. I have also read that worms get happy because they love rabbit poo which means they will be worming around more in your soil. Worms are important because they help to give the soil better structure and draining. Draining is important so the roots of your plants don't rot from being too wet all of the time.

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Return from Rabbit Manure to Our Fourth Year

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