The Day At The Homestead.

The weather has changed to cold or I should say winter temps. The hens are still free ranging awhile outside. They stay near the coop more than wonder around. The ducks still come out and then go back inside the coop. We had insulated the chicken coop for the hens this year. The temp inside was 45 degrees while the outdoor temp was in the 30's. At night it gets warmer because of all the heat the hens give off. As soon as there is snow on the ground the hens and ducks will stay indoors for the winter. We will have to supplement alfalfa for grass they feed off in the summer.

I have to post more later on how the hens are doing! We have 41 hens, 1 rooster, and 4 duck!

The Free 2.4 kW Solar Array

Two more months and the Solar Array will be one year's old! The array has produced an average kWh per day of about 13kWh. This summer we had money come back to us through EARP from Consumers Energy. The end of the year I estimate that the array will produce a whooping 3300kWh total. That will be about 65% of the total use of electricity that we would have had from Consumers Energy. www.consumersenergy.com

This is the picture of the Solar Array from SERC through MOCAP's Weatherization Program. www.mocap1.org. I love them because my brother got them free from the Government! We are still amazed that he got them for free! The total cost for this array would have been $17,500.

Vice President Biden Talks About One Year of the Affordable Care Act

Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague is a douchebag

People Are Idiots: America, Where Did You Go Wrong?

People Are Idiots: America, Where Did You Go Wrong?: "Hello loyal followers, I know it's been a while since my last hilarious blogpost, please excuse my absence as I've been busy with my Curling..."

The Bird & The Worm (Uke Cover)

Greenhouse

I ahve completed building a greenhouse for the garden. It took my brother and I a few days to frame it out and then once that was done. I went and bought some plastic for the framing. 4 mil thickness of plastic to wrap the frame! This laying of the plastic did not take long and I was having fun seeing it being completed.
Now this year I will have early plants, grown by seed, to lay in the ground of the garden and will give the garden a second chance for two harvests this year.
Next will be the benchs to be place within the greenhouse for the flats to be on. After that I will fill the flats with soil and seed. This will be fun to do!
Maybe I will post some pics of the greenhouse on Twitpic tomorrow.