[TheForge] OT: My floor is poured: the saga OT:

[Andrew Vida]

I don't like it either, but we had literally hundreds of rats in the 
barn.  We were over run and they were BIG.  I'm talking 16-18" from nose 
to end of tail.  I don't even care except they destroy pretty well 
everything, so they just had to go.  Bit fat Miss Kitty wasn't keeping 
up and Mittens almost never goes out.  Besides, half of the rate were as 
big as she.

The worst of it is they would kill and eat the baby geese and that is 
what tore it for me.  Took two in one night thsi summer past and that's 
when I nuked them for the first time.  But yes, you have to have places 
where nobody else will get to the bait.  I just slipped it into the bus 
(still have that thing) and under the 8' thick hay in the other side of 
the barn.  Speaking of which... I almost dread doing the hay next year.  
I cut with a Gravely, tetter and rake and bale by hand and am getting a 
bit long in the tooth for it.  My left shoulder is pretty well 
nerve-wrecked and am not sure what to do. Next year if lucky I will be 
able to get a disk mower for the tractor (small 24hp Kubota w/low cg for 
work on the steep-ish pasture).  Cutting 4 acres of hay by hand is not 
for us old farts, but the goats need to eat and we need the goat poo for 
the garden. We get about 25#/day in the barn, which we compost.  I've 
build several thousand square feet of the most beautiful, 12" tick 
topsoil you could shake your stick at and want to continue.  The garden 
produced very well this year.  We should have potatoes into April. But I 
digress.

One more thing: this year we grew a bean they call "same" in Guyana.  It 
is a purple-green pod.  They are not good raw, which is a shame because 
I love raw beans, but cooked they are very good.  If you steam them 
lightly, they freeze very well.  We planted 5 or 6 and the vines that 
erupted from those were monstrous and are still going strong.  They 
produce fruit by the barrow load... most fecund bean we have raised thus 
far - we must have 30 pounds of it in the freezer and have eaten a load 
already.  Next year I intend on saving a whole lot more of the seed - 
have only a small vial at this time... less than 100 seeds.  If in a 
year the world has not gone to dust and anyone is interested in trying 
to grow this bean, let me know at that time and I will send some your 
way.  To my palate, the steamed bean's taste is reminiscent of 
artichoke.  I like them. Thinking to run them along the fence on the 
west end of the orchard.  That would give them plenty of room and the 
neighbors can pick some, too.

-Andy
On 10/24/14, 2:46 PM, jerry Frost wrote:
> The thing I don't like about poison bait vermin control is poisoning your
> pets if they eat the carcasses. Still, they have to go so you do what you
> must. The gage kernals is how I do it too though not with corn. The mice
> around here LOVE cat food and the barn cats won't eat it if it isn't in the
> correct bowl. You gotta love good barn cats, ours have food and regular
> medical care.
>
> Jer