Shed Windows

Shed & Barn Windows

Windows can either make or break the look of a shed or barn. Great looking shed windows can take a shed or barn from functional to a building that adds value and beauty to your property. There are a few important facts to take into account before pounds nails and putting up framing that can help your finished project turn out to fit your needs and get finished quicker.

Shed Windows:
14″ x 21″, 16″ x 24″,
18″ x 27″,24″ x 36″

Shed Windows:
14″ x 27″, 18″ x 36″

Shed Windows:
18″ x 23″, 21″ x 27″,
20″ x 30″,21″ x 36″,
30″ x 36″, 36″ x 36″

Shed Windows
with out grids:
14″ x 21″, 18″ x 27″,
24″ x 27″,24″ x 36″

Designing Your Shed or Barn

Lets take a look at some questions that when answered will make the building of your shed or barn that much easier:

1. What is the purpose of the shed or barn?
2. If a shed, does this structure need to have year-round functionality? If so, you need to be looking at ventilation and insulation.
3. What is the minimum and maximum average temperatures in your area? This will guide you in choosing the proper ventilation and insulation.
4. How much space do you have for the structure?
5. Will neighbors be able to see the structure? If so have you gotten their input?
6. In most counties a structure that is under 10′ x 12′ does not need a permit. Have you checked with your local planning department about what type of structure requires a permit and plans submitted?
7. Do you want your shed or barn to be able to be reconstructed or moved at some point? This will make a difference in building plans and size.
8. What type of foundation do you want? Piers and posts or poured foundation?
9. How tall do you want your structure? What does your county allow?
10. Will the shed or barn be one-story or two-story? It makes a difference in the depth of foundation and the framing materials.
11. Will you want water or electricity to your shed or barn?
12. How much use will the structure get? This will have to do with the durability of the hinges, doors, windows, and hardware you choose. It is best to over buy for quality so that repairs and maintenance is kept to a minimum.
13. What do you want the pitch of the roof to be? Will there be gutters? Composition or shingle roof?
14. Do you want to add flower boxes, weathervane, or shutters.
15. What will be stored in the shed or barn? How large should the door opening be to easily accommodate movement in and out of the barn or shed?

We would enjoy seeing your finished shed or barn photos. Many of the photos contained within the pages of our website or in our gallery have been shared with us by our customers. We are inspired by their creativity.

About Us

Shed Windows and More Beginnings

Shed Windows and More, Inc. was started by Theresa Slack in 2001 with the website being added in 2008, so Do-It-Yourself builders would have a website giving them access to the best materials to build a small building, such as a shed, playhouse, tree house, chicken coop, or deer stand and find everything in one convenient place and at reasonable prices.

Shed Windows and More, Inc. offers a wide range of products at everyday low prices with shipping all across the USA and worldwide. Building materials such as, windows, hinges, shutters, vents, skylights, solar lighting, weathervanes and much more. We were dedicated from the beginning to provide the DIY builder with the finest materials and equipment to build their child’s dream swing set or play-set.

Craftsmanship, Quality & Service

Shed Windows and More, Inc. has also won the prestigious Camp Hill Best of the Year award two years running as a local business. We are a family-owned business helping other DIY builders create great DIY projects.

Our products have been seen multiple times on HGTV and the Discovery Channel and as part of various DIY shows, including and a show done about the Hobbit House of Montana, which is a very unique lodging facility.

Look no further for the materials you need to take your next project from an idea to finished project with the finest in craftsmanship. You can always count on Shed Windows and More, Inc.

Shed Windows and More Team

Theresa Slack-Founder

I started Shed Windows and More as way to fill a need for the average home owner to find the parts they needed specifically for building sheds or small barns. I saw a need for DIY builders to have access to the same quality and selection of windows that builders use for larger size sheds and barns sized for backyard sheds.

I also new that builders were looking for smaller scale windows at a reasonable price and great quality for building backyard sheds and barns for clients so I started Shed Windows and More. We supply both the DIY builder and contractors across the United States with a great selection of shed windows and accessories that they can count on to be delivered in a timely manner. Our builders don’t have to put in large scale bulk orders to get wholesale pricing like with other window suppliers, so we help them stay competitive in their pricing.

Shed Windows and More is a small family owned business and we love working with our customers to help them build their backyard shed, barn, chicken coop, or play set. We enjoy seeing the great finished products our customers and builders create and many of them send us photos of their finished projects that you will see on our website.

Most of our new products come from ideas that our small builders give us. We are always l ooking to add new products to the Shed Windows and More product line, so keep your suggestions coming.

When I’m not working at Shed Windows and More it’s my family, my dogs Molly & Abby, and time to relax with everyone I love that I appreciate the most. My favorite DIY project that my husband and I built was our grandson’s play set complete with large fort on top. He loves his play set and has spent many enjoyable hours playing outside with friends in his fort.

When you visit to the Shed Windows and More warehouse you are greeted by our two receptionists Molly & Abby with wagging back ends, they are more then happy to accept any attention and treats you are willing to share. We consider them our good will ambassadors showing our customers just how pleased we are that they have visited Shed Windows and More.

Thomas Slack

I came on the to Shed Windows and More in 2008. I started because Theresa needed extra pair of hands and to needed help with technology. What I enjoy working at Shed Windows and More is being part of a family owned business that helps DIY builders and contractors build some really great projects.

I’m always looking for the next challenge that we can take on with Shed Windows and More and enjoy growing the bond between family as the business grows. Like everyone on our team, I build DIY projects from renovating an entire house, back yards, even build animal enclosures and sheds! We are a hands on type of family, if we don’t know how to do something we learn and it keeps each of us growing and learning along with our business.

My hobbies and interests are teaching martial arts to kids and working with individuals and small businesses on building websites, branding, logos, marketing and advertisements though Tag Multimedia, Inc..

My favorite DIY project was building a cat house for a friend. She had a lot of fairle cats where she lived and always found abandoned kittens. She would nurse them and find them good homes but the older ones you could not find homes for as easily. Since they spent a lot of time in her yard and she wanted them to have a warm place in the winter to hide and I helped her build a house with several ramps and levels. The roof lifted open so you can see down into it as well as one of the short walls to clean it. I used our 14×21 brown flush windows and hinges that she purchased online from us. It was a fun build and now the cats and kittens fill it up when they want a safe place to go.

James Slack

I came aboard Shed Windows and More after working in litigation for the past 15 years. From a business that started from a garage to now, it’s amazing with hard work and having the great people on board how you can grow a company. I am blessed to work the people and family here at Shed Windows and More.

I have not personally built an outdoor structure but hearing all the creative ideas that our builders and clients have created, gives me a personal goal to one day build my own structure that I could display.

When I am not at work, I like to spend time with the family and friends. I play basketball through our church, Beach Church in Myrtle Beach.

Click on the DIY image above to be taken to the DIY Downloads & Directions Page.

Shed Windows and More Blog

Get Healthier–Spend More Time Outdoors

Sunshine Can Improve Your Health

Did you know that sunshine can improve your health? We are about to give you some great reasons why it’s good to shift your life to more outdoor time as much as possible. In most of the United States, it’s possible to increase time spent outdoors at least 2-3 seasons of the year without much of a stretch, but even winter in the harshest climates provides benefits.

Look at this article as reasons to play hooky from life and still be productive. First, we will share with you some of the possible benefits of increased sunshine and vitamin D and then how to do some easy shifts in your life to incorporate more outdoor time on a daily basis with ease.

Sunshine, Vitamin D & COVID Connection

Vitamin D is sometimes called the sunshine vitamin because vitamin D is produced in your skin when you spend time in sunlight. More sunlight equals more vitamin D production. Our bodies produce vitamin D, but we also can get vitamin D from specific foods and supplements.

We are finding out last year how important vitamin D is to our health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Low vitamin D levels and less time in sunlight seem like they correlate with more infections. Higher levels of vitamin D seemed to give people a better chance of better outcomes when infected. So why is vitamin D so important?

So Why Is Vitamin D Important?

Sunshine, which helps produce vitamin D does so much for our bodies; it can help our bodies fight disease, can reduce depression, may assist with weight loss, can improve our immune function, and it can help us have good gut health.

Vitamin D helps our bodies regulate the absorption of calcium and phosphorus so it’s very important for the normal growth and development of bones and teeth, as well as giving us resistance to some diseases. You can say that is great for kids, but I’m an adult, it also helps your bones from becoming soft or fragile and developing osteoporosis. A flexible strong body is able to enjoy life and do so much better into the elder years.

Top Benefits of Sunshine & Vitamin D

Let’s start with fighting disease, that’s a good place to start. Vitamin D can reduce your risk of multiple sclerosis, developing heart disease, and your likelihood of getting flu. Much research has been done on the link between low vitamin D levels and depression.

Research has shown the vitamin D might help regulate your mood and help ward off depression. So, once again, more than an old wife’s tale, spending more time in the sun helps with mood and SAD or seasonal affective disorder. Lower vitamin D levels can also make you more prone to anxiety and fibromyalgia because vitamin D helps regulate so many functions in our bodies.

Sufficient vitamin D levels can help your body lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. Also, research has shown a correlation between vitamin D and lowering heart disease risk factors. After the last year, we have all been through with COVID, it’s interesting to note that vitamin D can help increase gut microbial diversity, in straight talk, it makes for a healthier gut, a healthier gut helps support a healthy immune system.

Why Vitamin D Levels Are Lower Today

Our lifestyles don’t support as much time outdoors as the last two generations, plus these factors deter vitamin D production:

• High pollution rates
• Increased carbon dioxide levels
• Spending more time indoors
• More sedentary jobs
• More screen time, TV, computers, tablet, and phones
• Using sunscreen

So, with some simple modifications of lifestyle, you can improve your vitamin D production and have fun doing it!

Creative Ways to Spend More Time Outdoors & Lower Stress

Most all of us are balancing so many things these days that being told to change a behavior is just one more thing on the to-do list we don’t need. But, here are some creative and fun ways to do some simple modifications of your current lifestyle to increase your outdoor time and possibly your vitamin D. Worst-case scenario, you can choose to supplement with vitamin D, it’s a very inexpensive supplement that is readily available both locally and online.

• Consider having some meals outdoors in a sunny location.
• Move your home office outside and soak up some sun while your work. There are sunshades for laptops that work great!
• Play with your children outdoors instead of watching TV in the late afternoon.
• Take a walk with your dog, your spouse, or your kids in the morning or afternoon.
• Install a tree swing or porch swing to relax or meditate in that gets sunlight during the day.
• Start a DIY project outside.
• Work in your garden or plant a vegetable garden. Hint, kids eat more vegetables when they plant them and harvest them.
• Bring your cooking outdoors with your barbecue or an Instant Pot-between the two you can create an entire meal.
• Install a hammock between trees or put up a hammock stand and read a book in the sunlight.

This is just a starter list for all the creative ways you can move your lifestyle more outdoors at least 2-3 seasons a year and reap the benefits both to your mood and health. All of us at Shed Windows and More are working at incorporating more outdoor time into our busy schedules because we want to reap the benefits of lower stress and better health to be able to enjoy all the incredible moments in life.

Make Great Compost Fast & Easy

Quick & Easy Compost-Not Just for Vegetables

Compost making is a simple, easy, and efficient way of using Mother Nature’s ability to turn everything that once was living into great soil. You can compost a lot of the yard waste and food waste from your kitchen and use it to improve your soil or mulch your garden plants and trees.

When people usually think compost, they think of vegetable gardens, which is a great way to amend the soil and get greater yields from your vegetable garden, but compost also is an incredible mulch. Using compost as a garden mulch helps retain moisture for your plants and gives your plants the very best of nutrients.

What Makes a Great Compost?

It’s important to have the right ratio of ingredients in your compost for your compost to turn into good soil quickly! Composting can seem like you are going back to chemistry class, but it’s actually pretty simple. You need a mixture of carbon and nitrogen, approximately 1/3 greens or nitrogen to 2/3 brown or carbon to create a rich brown soil full of good nutrients. This ratio helps break down the organic matter pretty quickly, usually somewhere between 12 and 20 weeks depending on your climate and temperatures.

Compost Greens & Browns

What are compost green and brown materials?

• Brown Materials are your carbon components to your compost and they rot slowly and also add air space to your compost, such as dried leaves, shredded newspaper, straw, branches chopped up, sawdust, cardboard preferably shredded or town into smaller pieces.
• Green Materials are your nitrogen components to your compost and are usually moist and green materials rot quickly, such as fruit and vegetable scraps, green leafy materials, grass clippings, and animal manure.
• Enhancers include ground bones, eggshells, coffee grounds, and compost growth promoters.

Compost is all about alternating thin layers of greens and browns and bacteria and heat will do the work. The materials at the bottom of your compost pile will break down first because of age and it’s hotter at the bottom of the pile.

Compost Containers-Keep It Simple

Compost can be as simple as a circle of field fencing attached in a circle or as elaborate as a compartmentalized rotating compost bin. Each does the same work; rotating bins mean you aren’t pitching forking the contents every few weeks. Other people have an ad and don’t disturb outlook and just skim off the lower soil and keep adding each week to their compost pile. You just need to find what works best for you.

You want a compost container that is critter-proof and also dog-proof since rotting compost can be a health problem for dogs and necessitate a fast vet visit. We have used field fencing and have made sure it’s staked and has a top wired on that we can easily take off to add to our compost. Right now, we have a black bin with a lower trap door that has stakes to hold it to the ground making it pretty varmint proof!

What Are Great Compost Ingredients?

The list that follows covers most of what can be put into a compost heap to keep your compost healthy and turned into great soil for your garden:

• Lawn clippings, be sure to use him layers
• Mulched wood branches, I try to keep these to 3-4 inch lengths, they break down quicker
• Garden prunings, keep them small
• Straw, notice I say straw and not hay because hay has seeds you don’t want in your garden
• Leaves
• Pine needles or redwood leaves only if you are wanting a more acidic garden mulch for blueberries, grapes, rhododendrons, and such
• Fruit and vegetable scraps from your kitchen
• Coffee and tea bags and you can include your coffee filter
• Crushed eggshells
• Vegetarian animal manures including chicken, sheep, cow, rabbit manure. Be careful if you have used hay in any of the animal enclosures because you don’t want hayseed in your compost
• Pet hair and feathers
• Newspaper, we usually shred our first
• Cardboard and egg cartons, once again tear into smaller pieces to compost more quickly
• Sawdust and wood shavings
• Wood ash from your fireplace, use only small amounts to add potassium to your compost, too much makes your compost too alkaline

Troubleshooting Compost

There is not much that can go wrong with compost if you follow the list above and keep your ratio correct, but every once in a while you wonder if your compost is OK. Here are some things some troubleshooting hints:

• The compost is too dry not breaking down quick enough. You might have added too much brown material, try adding more greens, adding some water.
• My compost smells. Compost shouldn’t smell bad. It should smell like earth but not rotten. If your compost smells rotten it is probably too wet and has too many greens added. Try adding in more browns and give your compost a return with a pitchfork.
• My compost isn’t breaking down. If your craps are too large, especially the brown material, it can slow the breakdown process of your compost, Try cutting your brown materials as small as possible when you add them to your compost and also add more greens to your compost to see if you can speed up the process. Also, a good organic compost booster can do wonders in heating up your compost and adding the breakdown process.
• I have white growth in my compost. You might see fluffy mold growing, it’s harmless and probably means you’ve gotten your compost too wet or hot. Try adding more brown materials and give it a turn with a pitchfork. Make sure your compost pile is getting good ventilation because ventilation is key to good compost.
• I have red worms in my compost. Worms in compost are a good thing, it means your compost is breaking down properly and is becoming the rich soil you want and your worms have voted with taking up residence.
• I have maggots in my compost. Throw your compost out and start over. Someone put an animal product in your compost heap and this will cause your compost to have maggots. Not good for compost or your garden.

Composting is fun, a great way to amend your soil, and increase your garden yield while cutting down on what goes into garbage bins and your garbage disposal. Once you fill your compost bin, it’s just a matter of time and being patient for nature to do the work of turning your compost into rich soil or mulch for your garden.

How to Create a Green Roof for Your Shed

Why Create a Green Roof?

Why create a green roof? That is usually the first question that comes to mind when you mention creating a green or living roof on a backyard structure. Most people are trying to get things not to grow on their roofs, such as moss, grasses, and such. There are a lot of benefits to growing a living roof on your backyard structure. The practice of growing a living roof started centuries ago for insulation purposes in cold regions in Europe. In crowded urban areas, green or living roofs were seen as a way to add additional green to an urban landscape and allow for extra space for growing flowers, vegetables, and more.

What is A Green or Living Roof?

A green or living roof is a roof that is covered in plants. Sod roofs were historically common in rural Scandinavia and slowly made their way through Europe and then over to the United States. With the green movement, green roofs are taking their place as an ecological solution both for growing your own food and insulating your backyard shed, whether a garden shed, office shed, or guest shed. Green roofs can be as simple or complex as you want to make the task while creating a beautiful roof landscape that will attract bees, hummingbirds and beneficial insects to your garden overall.

Types of Green or Living Roof

If you enjoy DIY projects, creating a green or living roof should go to the top of your list. Not only can a living roof be beautiful, but they help protect your shed from storms, provide sound and heat insulation, possibly prolong the life of your roof, while providing a habitat for wildlife while reducing carbon emissions. There are basically two types of green roofs; the intensive green roof, which requires more time and maintenance; and the extension green roof. which is more of a low maintenance option.

Creating a Green or Living Roof

Above all else, the roof you are planting should be able to handle more weight than a traditional roof, so it should be structurally sound and strong enough to handle the extra weight of dirt, gravel, membrane, and plants that all hold a certain amount of water. There are so many books covering the subject of green or living roofs, but we give you some quick basics below:

1. Make sure you have the structure to hold the extra weight; check framing and roof supports before creating your green roof.
2. Waterproof the roof with a membrane layer; usually a micron damp-proof liner or pond liner should cover the entire area you want to plant to avoid water damage from seeping past.
3. The only area that shouldn’t be covered with the membrane is the edge of your roof where your water runs into the gutter.
4. Your next step is adding a weed-suppressing membrane that keeps the roots of your plants from growing through to the roof itself.
5. Next, you need to add your drainage medium, usually, gravel or limestone chips should be placed at a depth of 1/8 to 1/2 inch to ensure proper drainage.
6. Many DIY green roofs are between 3 and 8 inches in depth. Some garden supply stores provide a special green roof soil but you can also make up your own mixture. We like to use an organic mulch compost soil mixture that we get from our local source, but figure 70-80 percent inorganic material and about 20-30 percent organic material. You are aiming for soil that is firm but drains well.

Plant Choices for Green or Living Roofs

The easiest roof to make a living or green roof is one that is flat or not more than a 3-foot rise per 12 feet, or not more than a 3/12 pitch. If you are opting for very low maintenance choose succulents or native grasses or plants. Wildflowers are a wonderful choice and are low maintenance when you choose wildflowers that are native to your growing region. Sea Thrift is a favorite grass for green roofs since it naturally grows by the ocean on cliffs and dunes and requires no watering other than what Mother Nature provides. Yarrow is a wonderful choice since it will spread across the surface of your green roof and act as a ground cover.

Culinary herbs are also a wonderful choice for a green roof and many common herbs are perfect for your roof because they are accustomed to growing in dry, rocky places making them a great choice for a low-maintenance green roof. If you are opting for a roof that you will grow vegetables or flowers you will need to take into consideration a watering system for your roof garden and pathways to be able to navigate working on your garden. Whatever choice you make in planting your living or green roof it will provide a beautiful landscape focus to your backyard while providing anything from flowers, to herbs, or vegetables for your family. We would love for you to share your photos of your living roof either by email, our contact form or on Facebook.

Doing Well In Stressful Times

The New Year & Stressors in Life

Most people were so happy to say goodbye to 2020 this year because of all the stressors that had happened to everyone. It seemed like no one was immune to what was hitting all of us, some more than others. Many people will say that the last year has hit them on multiple levels and that it has been one of the most stressful times in their life.

All of us on one level or another have been dealing with a pandemic the likes that haven’t been seen in a hundred years, small businesses on Main Street being rocked, remote work, remote schooling, social distancing, and so much more. Our parents and grandparents worked through being at war, the depression, and many other stressors, but even they will say this last year is a topper.

How to Thrive When Life is Stressful

So how do you still feel good when it seems so much that is happening in your life is outside of your control? That is definitely the question before many of us these days and preeminent in our minds. We offer some tips below that we hope will help you navigate the stressful times we are in. These aren’t end-all solutions but we hope they make the road ahead easier to walk and more enjoyable.

Stress-DIY Projects to the Rescue

When life gets stressful it’s a great time to work on DIY projects. First of all, it keeps your mind and hands busy, plus you have a wonderful finished project after you have worked on your project. Whether you are building an outdoor shed, a guest shed, meditation or workout studio, office shed. or playhouse for children there is a sense of accomplishment that comes with working on and finishing a DIY project. You can just look through the pages on Shed windows and More to see some of the great projects our DIY community has created.

Get Outdoors & Soak Up Vitamin D

Getting outdoors no matter what the weather is so important during COVID. Vitamin D helps your body’s immune system, plus even a small amount of sunlight helps with your mood in the winter. Breathing fresh air whether you are taking a walk, walking your dog, playing in the snow, sweeping the driveway, or cutting firewood helps you feel healthier and can lift your mood. There is something about fresh air that clears things and puts a new perspective on things rather than sitting indoors. So bundle up, breathe deep, and enjoy some outdoor time this season and help lift your mood.

Dig In The Dirt

Whether you want to plant vegetables, bulbs, or flowers, all of these projects are inexpensive and get your hands into the dirt. Dirt is good for your health on many levels. Digging in the dirt allows your body to come in contact with important probiotics that are in the soil-why our ancestors had fewer stomach problems than many of us today. You also get to create something of beauty, which enhances your backyard, deck, or patio. Dirt and digging in the dirt is very centering or grounding which helps stress melt away.

Be Thankful-Try a Gratitude Journal

Keeping a gratitude journal helps focus your mind on the positive things in your life. What we tend to focus on seems to increase in our lives, it’s just how the brain tends to work. I asked my grandfather how they coped with war and the depression and it was interesting the stories he shared of his Mom setting up tables in the front yard to feed people that we’re hungry when they were not rich people and had 7 children.

She encouraged friends and those she met to find something each day to be thankful for, she believed if you thought about what was good in life it helped you get through the tough times. 7 children, the depression, and then 3 sons off at war and still when she died at ninety-nine and a half she was a positive person that found the good in life! She always told me that the only thing you could always control is how you look at things not always what shows up in your life.

How Do You Want to Feel?

Many times people create New Year’s resolutions at the beginning of the year, we have a new slant to share with you on that age-old tradition. Trying thinking of the year ahead and what you want to feel in the different areas of your life. Danielle LaPorte encourages people not to go for just for happiness, dig deeper and think how you want to feel about where you live, your career or business, your health, your relationships, how you want to spend your free time, and your religious or spiritual life.

How do you want to feel in each of those areas of your life? How we want to feel is what drives us to make decisions, so getting proactive about how you want to feel and making decisions that support feeling that way puts you farther ahead in your goals than resolutions usually do. The process of excavating your desired feelings is a project I just finished and it was eye-opening!

Reach Out to Friends & Family

My Dad has started calling one family member or friend each day. Some of these friends he hasn’t talked to in a few years, but they are so happy to hear his voice when they pick up the phone. We have lost a lot of human contact with COVID-19 and his idea not only makes him feel purposeful but it enhances other people’s lives also. He also has a text list he goes through each day where he sends out a couple of dozen texts to let people he knows letting them know that he is thinking of them. It might seem like a small gesture but small gestures can make all the difference in the world to someone.

Organize & Donate

Winter is a great time of year to organize our homes or shop. Organizing gives your life order, feels purposeful, and sometimes you even find lost treasures! We have just done this process a few times to closets, drawers, and our garage and have put together boxes of items that can find a second home by donating them to charity. If you can’t get out to drop off items, there are a number of groups from Goodwill to the Salvation Army to your local hospice chapter and others who will come and pick up especially larger items. Amazon has a Give Back Box that you can print a label and reuse any box, even your Amazon shipping box and donate items by dropping them off at the post office or a UPS shipping store.

Ask for What You Need

Finally and not least of all, when it comes to yourself, ask for what you need. I’ve mentioned this suggestion to friends and family and the retort many times, is that is scary and vulnerable. Yes, it is being vulnerable, but if you don’t ask for what you want the answer is always no.

Brene Brown speaks of leading with a strong back, soft front, and a wild heart–great advice she borrowed and added to from Elizabeth Lester the cofounder of Omega Institute in New York. But, it’s in keeping our heart soft that we actually are the strongest. Shutting down our heart shuts off our most accurate signals from our body.

Did you know that your heart sends you nearly double the signals and messages or advice than your brain does? Trust your heart to give you the real scoop on what you need. Make a list of people that are your cheering squad that you can go to and honestly ask for what you need. Many times being vulnerable opens the door in other people’s hearts to lead with vulnerability also and a real heart to heart connection happens. Those heart to heart connections is what feeds us and what we remember for a lifetime.

On a funny note, when all else fails, bake cookies! The task is purposeful, creates great aromas in your home, and gives you some great comfort food to munch on. We believe as a small business that it is important to support you with more than the best selection in shed windows and shed accessories this New Year. We are all in this together and we appreciate your support of Shed Windows and More and we wanted to give back to you from our hearts! Have a wonderful New Year and we are here for you!

Create a Side Hustle & Earn More Money

Create a Lucrative Side Hustle

This may seem like a left turn for a Shed Windows and More blog, but realize that many of our builders started their current companies as a side hustle without giving up income from their jobs. With so many of our customers working remotely or staying home more because of COVID-19 we thought it was good timing to share some great ideas that could provide extra income for your family.

Side hustles are a great way to increase your income while trying out a possible new idea for starting a company without risking your current income. Depending on your skills, earning extra income could quickly be within your grasp. No matter what you do for a job, thanks to the internet, making money and creating income is easier than ever. Some of the strategies we share below are real quick one-time fixes for extra cash and others take an investment of your time and some money. Have fun with this, include your family members, and realize each of us is unique and brings special talents to the table–this is your opportunity!

Start Your Side Hustle Today

Many of the ideas below only take a short time to generate money and others take some time and money to invest to create cashflow. Keeping your side hustle fun allows it to decrease stress while generating money for your family.

Quick Cash Generating Ideas

Try selling on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. This is a great way to organize your home and clean out closets and the garage of outgrown clothes and seldom-used items. I have found really good success with Facebook Marketplace even for more expensive items like Dog Exercising Machines that sold for $1,500. When you use Venmo for accepting payment it makes selling one-time items a breeze!

If you have old hand-held electronics around the house, such as an old iPhone, Samsung smartphone, iPad, Macbooks, try selling them through Trademore or Gazelle. A great way to generate cash quickly and not fill our landfills with electronics. I found that my old first-generation iPod was worth over $1,000, but I had already given it away to a family member, so it was a reminder that there might be other cash worthy items sitting around the house that could generate cash.

If you have old jewelry that you don’t wear anymore that is mostly gold and not gems, selling your jewelry for gold is a great way to generate cash quickly. Gold is at an all-time high of $1827 an ounce. Keep in mind that your jewelry usually isn’t 24-carat gold, but 14-carat gold, but it’s still a really good price at $1,073 an ounce USD.

Part-Time Driving & Delivery Work

If you enjoy driving or especially if you are in sales like a relative of ours and are driving around town, driving for Lyft or Uber is a simple side hustle that makes good use of your time between sales calls or other work that has you driving a lot. You can turn on and off your availability based on your schedule and it’s a great way to make money any time of the day. Our relative lives close to an international airport, in fact, he lives close to two, so driving for Lyft was a great way for him to make some extra serious side hustle cash.

Rent Your Guest Shed or Spare Room on Airbnb

We brought up renting your guest shed on Airbnb when discussing why this is a great time to build a guest shed. Depending on COVID-19 restrictions in your area, this can be a lucrative income. One of the ways you can be of service to our nurses and doctors is to rent out your guest shed to them during the COVID pandemic. Many of our medical personnel are working long hours, wishing to be safe around their families, and want to find a way to be closer to the hospital so they decrease their commute and rest between shifts. This is a win-win for you and your community.

Are You A Great Cook?

People are eating out less but still craving great food. Not everyone is a great cook. If you love cooking this is a great opportunity with our current conditions to become a personal chef. You can prepare meals for other people. I know there are so many meal subscription services, but that isn’t like having your own personal chef that cooks to your personal likes and dislikes. There are plenty of people that will pay to have a personal chef cook for them and deliver pre-made meals to their homes.

Love Dogs? Start A Dog Walking Service

Dog walking is a lucrative business and it’s a great side hustle. Also, technology has met needs and there are now leashes made so that you may walk three dogs at a time. Depending on where you live, dog walking services go anywhere from $20-$40 a walk. A walk usually is an hour’s exercise, picking up and delivering their dog back to their home. You wouldn’t think this business would be booming with people remote working, but with remote working and remote schooling, people are still finding it tough at times to give their dogs the attention and exercise they need. I know a number of people that took this from lucrative side hustle to a full-time company generating an amazing income!

Do You Like Fixing Things?

From computers to lawnmowers that won’t work, from a dress that needs a new zipper to a new iPhone that is overwhelming it’s the new owner–there is an opportunity in helping people by fixing stuff or helping them figure out stuff. With Zoom and screen sharing so much of this work can be done remotely. Take your expertise and make money from it, whether it’s building sheds, doing alterations, giving new life to toys, motorcycle and car maintenance, or repairing electronics while helping people in your community.

Love Growing Vegetables?

If you love growing vegetables, selling at a Farmer’s Market is a great way to take your extra vegetables and make money. People love buying directly from growers. If you have a large piece of property, let’s say a half-acre or better that you have planted, you could become part of a local farm to table subscription service, a great way to generate a steady income with once a week drop off and at the same time advertising your homegrown vegetables! So whether a Farmer’s Market to sell at once in awhile fits your needs or if you regularly have extra from your garden a subscription service could provide a great steady income as a side hustle!

Do You Love Kids & Teaching-Tutor!

One thing this pandemic has done has brought up how much we love our kid’s teachers and their expertise. Remote learning has been challenging for so many of our children and us. But for some of you, this has been an aha moment where you realize you are really good at teaching and love some of the subjects you used to excel at in school. So take that knowledge and help kids that are having a challenge including their parents during the pandemic with tutoring kids in areas that you excel in and get paid at the same time. All of this can be done by Zoom so geography is not a factor, just getting the word out that you are available! Depending on where you live you can earn anywhere from $25 to $75 an hour depending on your credentials, track record, and recommendations!

We have only shared a small cross-section of ideas that could generate extra income as a side hustle. This is one of our favorite topics and we have an endless stream of side hustle ideas we can share to generate extra income for your family. From photography to selling eggs, from selling on Etsy to baking dog biscuits–there are so many fun and great ways to generate income as a side hustle!

Share with us at Shed Windows and More what you have tried for your side hustle. We not only provide everything you need to build your outdoor buildings and enhance your home but each month we provide marketing advice via our newsletter to our community and builders.

Build a Backyard Smokehouse

Smoke Your Own Meat, Fish & Cheese

Building a backyard smokehouse is a great family DIY project this time of year. We want to expand your horizons on what you can smoke in your backyard smokehouse to include not only meat but fish and cheese also. There is nothing more delicious than cheese that has been smoked. Consider both gouda, cheddar, and mozzarella as good beginning projects for trying your skills at smoking cheese. You will be the hit of any holiday gathering with homemade smoked cheese, it is so delicious!

Freshly caught fish smoked not only preserves it well and kills bacteria, but it also gives it a wonderful flavor to anything from trout to snapper. There are some really great how-to books on smoking fish, meat, and cheese that will give you methods and timetables to smoke your food.

Smoking your own turkey, deer, or sausages lets you create some incredible food for your family and guests alike. We have friends that make their own sausages and then hang and smoke them to a delicate finish that can’t be duplicated by store-bought sausages. Once you have tasted the smoked food you have created from your backyard smokehouse you will be hooked on the whole process.

DIY Smokehouse Building Process

We are going to take you through the building process for a wood smokehouse. We list the materials below and you will need to figure amounts based on how large your firebox is and how large of a capacity you want for smoking your meat, fish, or cheese:

Materials:

• Bricks
• Mortar
• Stovepipe for tube and updraft pipe
• Cinder blocks
• Cast iron access door for the firebox
• Framing materials
• Whatever wood you choose to build your smokehouse with, cedar can be a good choice
• Pegs for holding drying racks in place
• Hanging hooks
• Closet poles and wood connectors
• Smoking racks
• Smoker thermometer

Many times traditional smokehouses are built on slopes so the firebox would be below the smokehouse, but since many people don’t live on a hill or slope we have given you directions so you can build your smokehouse nearly anywhere.

Process:

1. Dig a trench between where you will build your firebox and smokehouse that is wide enough to accommodate a 4-inch stovepipe. Single wall stovepipe is very inexpensive.
2. Attach a 45-degree connector to the end of your stovepipe at the end that will be in the center of your smokehouse.
3. Attach a stovepipe at this juncture that will be tall enough to reach just below the base of your smokehouse.
4. Create your cinderblock base for whatever size smokehouse you wish to build. Generally, you are looking for at least three tiers of cinderblocks to get enough height for the smoke to travel upward to your smokehouse.
5. Building your firebox at the other end of the pipe is simple, just bricks and mortar. Decide what size of wood you want to fuel your smokehouse with, this will decide what size you want to build your firebox. Making your firebox so it can accommodate at least a 16″ piece of wood is a good idea so you aren’t always stoking your fire.
6. Many people build movable vents into their firebox so that they can control the heat and with the aid of a good smoker thermometer and with practice you can get your technique down really well.
7. Install the cast-iron access door to the front of the firebox once the mortar has dried.
8. Frame your smokehouse on top of the finished and dried cinderblock foundation. Using Simpson fasteners meant for connecting wood to cement works well for attaching your framing to your cinderblock foundation.
9. You can use closet poles and wood closet pole connectors for holding your hanging poles in place.
10. Once your smokehouse and roof are framed attach the siding and roofing material of choice.
11. Install your door on the front of the smokehouse so you can check on the progress of your smoked food.
12. We like installing a single pane window in the door so we don’t have to open the smokehouse to see how our smoking project is progressing/

At Shed Windows and More we have doors that would work great for your smokehouse along with door hinges and handles that would finish off your DIY smokehouse project just great.

Cold Smoking & Hot Smoking

The smoker we have described building above is used for cold smoking since it has 2 chambers. But if you have a short pipe between your firebox and smokehouse you can use our smokehouse plans for both cold smoking, warm smoking, and hot smoking. Cold smoking is the temperature that doesn’t get above 80 degrees in the smokehouse, between 80 ad 150 is warm smoking, and between 150 and 300 degrees is considered hot smoking.

Let’s discuss the differences between cold smoking and hot smoking. Cold smoking is used to preserve food, the temperature doesn’t go above 80 degrees, meat must be cured first, and it can take days to complete the process. Cold smoking is great for fruit, nuts, and cheese for obvious reasons. You can use cold smoking for meats also you just need to make sure that the meat is cured already so you don’t have problems with bacteria. Just think of being able to preserve meat, fish, and chicken so it could last months, much the way our ancestors did before refrigeration.

The purpose of the hot smoking process is to cook the meat. When you hot smoke meat it is ready to eat. You can store it in the refrigerator for a few days, but most people want to dive in right away and eat what they have hot smoked. Hot smoking takes the temperature of your smoker up to at least 140 degrees and can go up to 300 degrees. The usual temperature for hot smoking usually is around 140 degrees. When hot smoking you are partially or totally cooking the food you are smoking. Hot smoking temperature range is 140-300 degrees, used for foods that will be eaten right out of the smoker for immediate consumption, curing is not required and the smoking process usually finishes in a day or less.

Benefits of Building a Guest Shed Now

The Extra Benefits of Building a Guest Shed

Timing is everything and now is one of the best times to build a guest shed. A myriad of reasons are all facing so many of us; COVID, remote schooling, remote work, aging parents, adult children going through transitions, guest space for visiting family, and also an unattached building that could generate extra income. All wins the way we look at it! So let’s discuss each of these reasons and see if the benefits add up for your family to build a guest shed.

Guest Sheds for COVID

This year COVID has generally turned many of our worlds upside down. Even if you have been fortunate enough that your family hasn’t been touched by COVID, your life has still been impacted in many ways. From remote work to remote schooling, from social distancing to extra sanitary precautions–there has been an impact on your family’s life. Having had COVID in our household we realize how tough it is to quarantine away from other family members even if you have a larger home. Since a person can’t just stay in a room, they need to bathe, use the facilities, and eat, it presents some real challenges.

It seems as COVID is not going away any time real soon so a guest shed gives your family some strategic advantages in keeping your other family members safe while another family member is recuperating from COVID or needing to quarantine because they are in a high-risk job or have been exposed to COVID.

• A guest shed gives sick family members or relatives you are caring for a space of their own while not infecting others.
• You can equip a guest shed with a small toilet, sink, and shower.
• A guest shed can also have its own efficiency kitchen consisting of a microwave, a mini-refrigerator, and a hot plate.

A guest shed gives your family so many more advantages other than trying to take care of a family member with COVID within your home. A guest shed gives family members with high-risk jobs such as emergency technicians, nurses, doctors, police officers, firefighters, and more, a place to stay when they know they have been exposed to COVID to keep your family safe.

Guest Sheds for Remote Work

Sometimes you just run out of space in your home! Remote work has thrown a number of us a curveball in finding a place within our homes where we have space and quiet needed to perform our job or run our company well. A guest shed is a perfect solution for remote work. You can set up a desk, lighting, computers, and more with the space you need so you don’t feel cramped. You can also equip your remote work area with a mini-refrigerator and microwave so you reduce your trips between your guest shed and your house. Remote work, which many of us have been doing since COVID, will probably continue as a change in the workplace in many industries going forward, so this is the perfect time to prepare and be prepared.

You can also equip your guest shed with a wall bed or Murphy bed so your remote work guest shed can go double duty; as a remote workspace and also a guest shed when the need arises. Once you have experienced having a separate space away from your home, but right in your backyard for remote work, you will be sold on the idea–it’s really the best of both worlds. Just think of how much time you are freeing up not commuting, less mileage on your car, less gas, and less stress with the ease of working from home. Once you get used to ZOOM meetings, you can start to see the advantages for many industries far outweigh any drawbacks with remote work.

Guest Sheds for Remote Schooling

If you have more than one child, remote schooling can create some challenges for your family space-wise and with noise. Think multiple ZOOM meetings going on at the same time! Your children can use headsets, but headsets especially with younger children don’t always work the best for their needs. Having a separate space close to your house for your children to do their remote learning in has many advantages:

• Less noise and distractions.
• A designated place so they aren’t moving their computer and schoolwork back and forth within your home.
• A space of their own so it feels like a plus with remote schooling instead of looking at the downside of not seeing friends, lack of after-school activities, and lack of sports.

Using a guest shed for remote schooling also opens up other possibilities in the school framework. You are able to mount a whiteboard on the wall to keep track of each child’s most important activities. Yes, we know there is task management software especially for remote schooling, but there is nothing like a white-board for visual reinforcement of most important tasks or for demonstrating anything from subjugating verbs to how to do long division for your children’s different learning styles.

Guest Sheds for Aging Parents, Adult Children & Income

For your family, a guest shed could be an affordable alternative to a nursing home or assisted-living space for your aging parents. The cost of a nursing home room can approach over $7000 a month, even an assisted-living facility can cost more than $3,500 a month with a more independent approach to eldercare. If you were to rent your gust shed to your family member in most areas the cost would range from $700 to over $1500 a month, but definitely so much less than nursing home alternatives.

In high-cost areas, guest sheds can serve as a safety net for young people who can’t afford housing close to work or school. Guest sheds can also provide a safety net for adult children that have health issues, developmental issues, or are going through a major life transition such as divorce, or death of a child or loved one, etc. A guest shed gives them autonomy but also allows you to provide assistance when needed.

Guest sheds can provide additional income for your family when not being used by family members for remote work or schooling. Whether you live in a city, suburb, or out in the country, you can market your guest shed as a short-term rental using Airbnb, VRBO, Homeaway, or your local community board. Short-term rentals laws vary by area, so make sure you are allowed in your area to have a short-term vacation rental before advertising. If you have a green light, it can be a great way to meet new people and make a passive income at the same time.

If you are motivated to build a guest shed at this time, Shed Windows and More has shed windows, shed doors, shutters, flower boxes, cupolas, and more to finish your guest shed in style. We would love to see your finished guest shed designs both exterior and interior, just email your photos to thomas@shedwindowsandmore.com.

Bust Stress with DIY Projects

Fun DIY Project Stress Reduction Tips

I think most of us would agree that this has been a stressful year on many levels. COVID-19, racial tensions, and now a good part of the Western United States is on fire at unprecedented levels, all of which have turned up the tension big time for so many people.

We have some great DIY projects that can help you channel that frustration, worry, and tension into turning out a great finished project for your home. Some of these projects are simple enough or parts of the project are simple enough that your children can help and feel part of the process. You could even incorporate part of their homeschool lessons into your DIY project. Having two at-home remote learning, I know that they appreciate their day being broken up some between long Zoom classroom sessions.

We discuss below some great DIY projects, some of which are very quick and simple and others that will be a few days’ projects to take on. Sometimes you just want to knock out something fun and fast as a distraction to all the stressors and other times you want a project you can really dig into and the project will take you a few days, so we have given you a sampling of both types of projects to choose from.

Why DIY Projects for Stress Relief?

People have been stuck at home over the last months because of social distancing and many have given up their commutes from working from home, so this has freed up more time. Even for those still working outside of the home, evenings and weekends that were often spent with friends, going on trips, or spending the day running errands are now open to creative endeavors. As we have freed up time, our creativity and craftsmanship within us have begun to emerge again.

DIY projects allow us to take the frustration, worry, and stress we are feeling and create something useful and fun with all that energy. It’s not a surprise with the COVID-19 pandemic and wildfires, hurricanes, and more this summer that people are turning to DIY projects in rising numbers. 2020 has been a year that has brought with it stress, fear, frustration, and anxiety for a lot of people. Not only are people missing friends and family but our “normal” on so many levels has been flipped upside down!

Mental health and self-care have been very important since the COVID outbreak started and now with unprecedented wildfires in much of the western United States people are looking to DIY projects to help reduce stress levels. Not only do DIY projects turn out a great finished project but in the process of building your project, it can help reduce stress levels, improve anxiety, and elevate your mood, and give you a better sense of connection to your world.

Small DIY Projects

Now for some small DIY projects that can be turned out in a day and will produce something useful or add curb appeal to your home. These projects range in time from 2-3 hours to a full day to install garage doors windows to your current garage door.

Bird Feeding Station:

Probably one of the easiest bird feeding station designs we have seen we link to below. Most of the supplies can be found around your house except for the cedarwood. Other than your wood, you need a copper 4×4 post cap, coated wire, 1-liter water or soda bottle, eye screw, 3/8 inch grommet, wood glue, and a wooden dowl. You’ll need a tape measure, combination square, compass, safety glasses, jigsaw, orbital sander, hammer, drill/driver, scissors, wire cutters, screwdriver, 1/4 inch drill bit, and a 1/2 spade bit. You can find the direct at This Old House: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/yards/21016361/how-to-build-a-bird-feeder

Larger DIY Projects

Now for some DIY project ideas that not only allow you to focus on something positive and help you de-stress but also create a useful addition to your home or add curb appeal for your house. These projects take a bit more time but the rewards are wonderful. Think of having a new area to be able to have your home office or have your child do homeschool, below we give some tips on simple windowsill desks.

We also give you some hints on how to install new garage windows to your existing garage door to add curb appeal and also extra light to your garage. Both of these projects will take a day or two, but the finished projects are a handsome addition to any home.

Windowsill Desk Extension:

One of the most underutilized spots in most of our homes is our windowsills. DIY ideas abound for extending windowsills and creating both a useful and decorative interest to your home, office shed, or guest shed. Every room usually has at least one window and windows most normally have windowsills. It doesn’t take much to replace your current windowsill with an extended version of itself and create a place for plants, herbs, a small office, or a focal point for artwork.

For an office windowsill or place to see the beauty of the outdoors while checking social media, consider extending your windowsill area with a beautiful piece of wood finished to perfection with supports underneath for extra strength. When you install a windowsill that goes from wall to wall you already have the support of studs on each wall so it doesn’t take much more in underpinnings to give you the support you need for a small office space.

Adding a windowsill counter space in your kitchen or dining room allows you to enjoy nature while eating your meals and it also gives you a handy place to grow herbs or laze away reading a book with breakfast. Once again, if extending from wall to wall, minimal supports are needed underneath, only if the windowsill extension is more than 4 feet wide usually do you need added supports. You can use anything from Formica to a beautiful piece of wood for your kitchen windowsill seating area, choice will depend on your intention for what it will be primarily used for, ease of cleanup, and how much upkeep you want to put into your new windowsill extension.

Adding Windows to Your Garage Door:

Shed Windows and More has an amazing selection of garage doors windows that can be a wonderful addition to your already installed garage door, allowing for more light in your garage and adding curb appeal to your home. We stock a huge selection of garage door windows including; 2-panel sunburst garage door windows, 4-pane garage door windows, arched design garage door windows, diamond garage door windows, simple 4-pane garage door windows, single pane garage door windows, and single-pane sunburst garage door windows to add to your garage door.

Remember to measure twice and cut once. It’s important before you order to make sure your garage door window will fit within a panel on your garage door. Generally garage door windows are mounted high up on the garage door to allow for the most light to enter. If your garage door is prefabricated, the back of the window will go through the door, while the front of the window will be attached to the door of the garage. Thinking this through, you will need to make an opening in the panel of the garage door large enough for the back of the window. First measure the back of the window, mark the opening needed with a pencil, and then apply masking tape to the rectangle to guide you when you are cutting the panel.

Using a jigsaw to cut the opening gives you the most control and makes for the cleanest edge for installing your new garage door window. Follow the inside of the masking tape you have laid down to cut the opening for the window, making sure you have your measurement correct first. The next step is using waterproof clear caulk around the edges of the front of the window before inserting it into the opening you have made. Use a wet rag to wipe away any residue caulk for a clean finish.

Your last step is duplicating the process above with the backside of the garage door window and in most cases, the garage door window comes with screws to mount the front and back windows together. If you follow the directions you will have garage door windows that give you trouble-free service for years.

Above all have fun with your DIY project especially if you are working on these projects to reduce stress, Go slow, enjoy the process and send us your finished photos at info@shedwindowsandmore!

Start Your Own Mini-Farm

Chicken, Duck & Rabbits to Start

We have discussed in other blog posts about growing your own vegetables in your backyard, but taking that one step further you can extend your mini-farm to include chickens, ducks, or rabbits.

Having access to fresh eggs, your own homegrown chicken for eating, duck eggs, duck meat, rabbits for rabbit meat has you and your family much more self-sufficient. Plus your homegrown eggs and meat are fresh and can be raised without antibiotics and GMO-free.

Raising Backyard Chickens for Eggs & Meat

Being able to have your own fresh chicken eggs each day is wonderful, especially with what eggs are starting to cost. You can be sure that the eggs your hens produce are antibiotic and GMO-free, plus eggs that come from your backyard have a longer shelf life.

We offer some tips below to raising chickens for eggs and meat, but one of your best local sources for information about backyard chicken raising is your local Farm Bureau or feed store. So here are some thoughts on backyard chickens:

• Start small because if you are a novice you really don’t know if you will have the time or enjoy the experience of backyard chickens.
• Our suggestion, don’t buy a rooster unless you are dead set on fertile eggs and possibly irritating your neighbors at all hours of the day. Remember that roosters don’t just crow at sun up!
• Start with standard breed chickens instead of exotics, they tend to be hardier and lay larger eggs. Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks are hardy and easy for a beginner to raise.
• Remember the lifespan of a chicken is anywhere from 5-10 years, so this is a commitment, much like taking on a pet.
• Buy a coop, they are experts or use a time-honored coop design and keep your coop weight lighter so that it be moved on wheels if you decide to go for a smaller coop.
• Remember that chickens need a run and not just a coop, and it is best that your coop run is fenced on all sides and has chicken wire or lightweight fencing material across the top.
• Make your chicken coop varmint proof, by putting chicken wired under the coop and then covering the wire with hay, which chickens love to nibble on.
• Make your laying boxes accessible from the outside of the coop, so it’s easy to pick up eggs each day.
• Keep in mind that you need enough space for each chicken so there isn’t overcrowding and disease and fighting. The minimum rule is 2-3 feet per chicken inside the coop and 8-10 square feet for chickens in the outside run.
• Keep in mind that it takes anywhere between 17 to 26 weeks for hens to start laying. Food intake and quality are important, make sureSt they are whole grain with at least 17% protein.
• Install an automatic waterier or use the time-honored chicken waterier for your chicken’s water source. Also, make sure you have feed on demand, there are many different automatic feeders available.
• Be sure to gather eggs every day.

Once you have experienced eggs from a backyard chicken, there is no going back to store-bought eggs. The yolks are bright yellow and are firm. You can keep a fresh basket of eggs on your countertop, but keep in mind once refrigerator, they need to stay that way. The colors of the eggs are beautiful and eating fresh eggs is an amazing culinary experience–everything you cook or bake just tastes better.

Backyard Ducks for Eggs & Meat

Starting with raising ducks in your backyard can be fun and produce both eggs and meat for your family. The easiest way to get started with ducks is to start with a few ducklings that you buy from your local feed store in the springtime. Another option is buying from a local hatchery or a trusted online source for ducklings. Another option if buying full-grown ducks from a breeder and forgoing the duck raising process. If you want to be part of the whole duckling to duck growth process there are a few things that you need:

• A brooder can be as simple as a large box with hay on the bottom or wood shavings.
• You need a heat source and a heat lamp with a red bulb will substitute for their mother’s body warmth at 90 degrees.
• For bedding you can use either pine shavings or hay, it will need to be changed daily because it will get wet.
• Start your duckling on a duckling starter food that includes vegetables, fruits, and protein.
• The best duck breeds for egg production are: Campbell ducks which can produce 340 eggs a year, Runners that produce about 300 chicken-sized eggs a year, Buffs which are also good meat-producing ducks lay about 200 eggs a year, and Welsh Harlequins which can be raised for both meat and eggs produce about 300 white eggs a year.
• Runners are also non-flying ducks, which helps contain them.
• Keep in mind that ducks are foragers and if loose will eat your landscaping and also your vegetable garden in no time flat. I have seen them take out a 50-foot row of lettuce in minutes! So containment is important with a well-fenced run.
• Ducks need access to water since they can’t swallow food without water.
• If you have leftover kale, romaine, or lettuce from your garden mature ducks love to eat their vegetables and they are also good for them.
• At the end of your vegetable garden season it’s a great idea to give your ducks access to your garden, they will help eat if down in no time flat plus add nutrients to the soil through their droppings.

Keep in mind that duck eggshells are thicker than chicken eggs so they stay fresh longer. Duck eggs tend to be richer tasting and creamier than chicken eggs with higher amounts of Vitamin D if your ducks are free-range. Duck eggs make for rich omelets and very fluffy and delicious cakes.

Raising Rabbits in Your Backyard

Rabbits are a great multi-use addition to your backyard farm. They are a great source of wool, meat, and manure for your garden. Rabbits take minimal time, space, and money and are also lovely pets. Different breeds of rabbits are known for different purposes. Your top pet rabbits are the Mini-Rex followed by the Dutch, Mini-Lop, and Netherland Dwarf rabbit.

Angora rabbits are known for their wonderful wool-producing attributes where you can pluck straight from their bodies and spin into the finest yarn. New Zealand rabbits and the Giant Chinchilla rabbits are bred for their tasty, high-quality meat.

Rabbits of all breeds produce about 50 pounds of manure a year and it isn’t as hot as chicken manure and makes great fertilizer for plants that need heavy feedings, such as roses and azaleas. What do you need to raise rabbits? Here is the shortlist:

• Rabbits need shelter, food, and water with a cozy place to nest.
• Buying a hutch or building a small hutch is a simple project. You want to make sure that your rabbit hutch is off the ground for digging reasons and also predators.
• Make sure your hutch has multiple levels so the rabbits can jump between the different levels.
• Provide additional run space for your rabbits, they will be happier and healthier.
• Rabbits need shade and well-ventilated living space or a shade tree as cover for their hutch and run space. Rabbits can tolerate cold, but heat is a serious issue for rabbits.
• You will need an automatic feeder and water source, nesting box. Remember rabbits love to gnaw so a wood hutch comes with challenges unless it is lined with wire.
• You should provide 10 square feet of roaming space for each rabbit. Be sure that it is secure because once they have a taste of your vegetable garden they will find a way to get back there.
• Rabbits are highly efficient natural composters; just like backyard chickens. Rabbit manure is a great amendment to any vegetable garden or mulch around landscaping plants.

If you are considering raising backyard rabbits, consult your local Farm Bureau, feed store, or local breeders for information particular to your area. At Shed Windows and More we have a great supply of windows and doors that can help you construct a great chicken, duck, or rabbit coop or housing area. We have sizes and choices that you won’t find at a big box store with prices and selection that you can’t beat.