heat kills

You know those last few days of heat we had? It killed most if not all the worms in the worm bin. Ever pass a dead animal on the side of the road? It smells. How do you think a couple thousand dead worms smell? In my entry way? Hooooo-wheeee! Stinkayyy!

This year there are three seperate hatches of guineas. The first produced 3 females, 5 males, all lavender. The second, two unknown browns. The third, I'm guessing 3 females, 3 males, all brown but one (who's yer daddy?!). They are out of control, flying all over the place, begging to be let outside:



Speaking of excess keets....

Read no further, faint of heart.

Do you know what a capon is? It's a (male) bird with its testes removed. This emasculation causes the boy-not-yet-man to take on some female characteristics... or more accurately, non-male characteristics. He is non-agressive, cares for young, and grows larger than a normal male would.

Why are capons produced? Male poultry are basically useless, other than for meat. But capons are even better -- their flesh is more tender, and they continue to grow beyond their normal size and weight. Although they ultimately cost more to produce, they are sought after for the above reasons.

Capons are out of favor though. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it is because capons are now produced through artificial means -- chemicals that inhibit the hormonal activity of the testes. Nobody wants to eat a chemically-enhanced chicken.

Yet at the same time, the old-fashioned way of producing a capon might be considered barbaric. It happens all over the domestic animal world, though.

Alpine Learning is going to study the effects of caponizing Guinea Fowl. This will be scholarly research: there will be control groups, experimental subjects. I'll blindfold myself, twice, so I don't know which I'm weighing. If I can read the results, I'll reports as honestly as possible.

ALC is not all about birds

How many of you have vegetable waste that you either 1) send down the plumbing through the food grider; or 2) toss onto a make-shift compost pile? The first option works, but you know that you can do better with this sort of waste, such as composting. But, the trouble with composting such small amounts of leftover scraps is that it isn't really composting -- the waste just dries up and withers away on top of the pile. Normally one would create a compost pile with the correct nitrogen/carbon ratio, mix it up, and let it sit for a few months. This sort of arrangement doesn't exactly allow for incremental additions of small bits of kitchen waste. What to do, then?

This is where vermiculture fills a void, that is, giving your kitchen scraps to red wiggler worms. Many months ago I responded to an ad on craigslist, a woman whose name I have forgotten said she had an abundance of worms and they were free for the taking, provided they be used for the same purpose. Kerrie and I went and gathered maybe 1000 worms, by hand, and I tossed them into a box with holes and set them to the task of eating the kitchen scraps. It is working better than I ever imagined. They were slow to start at first, because the population was small, but after a few months they have become so dense that I need to either make a bigger container or give some away. Here they are chowing down:



It's easy to manage. Put any non-animal waste into the box, mix it up so the food isn't on top of the pile, and ever other day or so give it a good mixing. There is no smell provided you keep it mixed. If you give them too much at once, some of the food rots. No big deal though, just keep mixing it up. It is really that easy. The population will adapt to the amount of food intake. If you toss in a lot, they will reproduce. It is that simple.

Let me know if you want a starter batch of worms, I have plenty.