When freeze drying eggs, I can get anywhere from 7 to 8 dozen eggs in one load, depending on the size of the eggs. I’m currently getting eggs from a friend whose chickens are young layers and the eggs are large but most are not what I would call extra large. I was able to get 8 dozen in the current freeze dryer load.
I will bake them at about 275 for 15 minutes, leave them out to cool, then run them through the blender to get them close to powdered. When I had chickens, I would blend them til they are in small pieces, but not as fine as what I like for the garden.
Each jar has the shells from about 8 dozen eggs.
We’re going to grow our tomatoes and potatoes in mineral tubs this year so we’re starting with new soil that we have not had tested. We got one load of “rich garden soil”, though I have my doubts that it’s THAT rich or that it’s the best for gardens but getting good soil around here has not been easy. We got one load of mushroom compost and we’ll add “raised bed soil” that we purchased in bags from the garden center. Throughout the year, I will add kitchen waste to our raised beds. There are two that do not have anything growing in them during the winter so all our kitchen veggie scraps went in those two throughout the winter. I will borrow some soil from those for the mineral tubs, then replace it with mushroom compost. I will add a bit of straw to the soil for the potatoes. They should be done early enough that I can plant zucchini in the tubs where the potatoes were.
I will still grow some things in grow bags – probably peppers because they don’t get so big, but I will keep a couple of the big mineral tubs and not plant anything in them. I will mix up fertilizer/water and give all the peppers a good, long soak in those each week and see how that goes.
I do miss my 100′ x 100′ garden in Texas but I know it’s time for me to slow down a bit. Mostly I miss planning the big garden and harvesting – the weeds and bugs and grass burrs .. I don’t miss those at all. I’ll probably always have a few veggies growing and by August when the bugs are terrible and the heat is killing me and the plants and I’m having to water every single day . . I’ll be thankful for my small garden.
Paula Nordt says
I just have had no luck with a garden. I live twenty minutes southwest of Houston, Texas. Our soil is gumbo clay. Concrete when dry, slippery dense clay when wet. I tried raised beds with purchased by the truckload “enriched garden soil with compost”. It was horrible. I did manage to grow tomatoes. The fruit was attacked by mockingbirds and the plants devastated by hornworms. Tried zucchini, but that was a wash. Did manage to grow enough jalapeños to pickle a few jars of them. Gardening is not for wimps.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Don’t feel bad. We all have off years. Last year wasn’t my greatest garden except for tomatoes and sweet potatoes. We had the same type soil in areas of Lake Charles so I understand.