Poultry update!

With the onset of spring weather, the chickens have been quite prolific layers lately.  I think, however, that someone in the coop is not measuring up to the current production standards, as we seem to be one or two eggs short of the actual chicken count.  Coop Mama (not sure which buff that is, or if they take turns) has been cheerfully sitting on a small mound of eggs every day when I get home and check,  She (for the moment I will assume its just one Coop Mama) still protests loudly when I stick my cold hand under her to get the eggs.  The best part is when I get a couple of eggs, and move the rest away from her, she uses her beak to push the eggs back under her.  She's pretty fast.  I wish they would understand that those eggs will never become babies and we might as well enjoy them.  I guess it could be quite traumatic to have your "children" taken from you every day.

We've been averaging 10 eggs a day and the colors are beautiful.  Green, white, tan, brown, and tan with speckles.  I am still amazed at the fact that the hens have all of these eggs up inside of them.  Where do they keep them??  I'll look that up here shortly.  The suspense is killing me.

Saturday, I went out to the coop to collect eggs and found something funny.  Among all the large and extra large eggs, was this little(!!) egg.  Husband said it must have come out accidentally...sort of like passing gas.  Probably surprised the chicken.  I have visions of her walking along, feeling a little discomfort, going to relieve the pain, and whoops....out comes this little gem.  I put it in the carton with the other eggs, and it looks...well...small.

A midget among giants.

Not so much...

Ha ha, well, of course, I wanted to know if the little egg looked the same on the inside.  Yeah, I know...weird.  I cracked it and it had the tiniest yolk I've ever seen.  I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland.  We didn't eat it...that seemed wrong somehow.  

I took a break, and as promised, I Googled the reproductive system of a chicken.  Appears simple, yet so complex.  The eggs must develop at a breakneck speed in there.  I'm still in awe.  Makes me want to go in the coop and congratulate each hen individually...okay, not really.  But still quite impressive.  

About time to head home and see what awaits me in the realm of chickens and vegetables!  Can't wait!

I think I've got this!! Well...maybe...

Okay, blogging for realsies now!  No more month long gaps in the action.  I think I might have overcome the feeling that I'm a total failure at this vegetable gardening thing too.  Proof is below!! 

Cucumbers, squash, and soy beans!!  Woo hoo!!

Peas, brussel sprouts, and a variety of tomatoes!

I did a little Googling and found out that while greenhouses are nice and effective when closed up, the plants inside also need to have fresh air and sunshine.  Who knew??  Well, obviously many people must know that.  I know now, so away we go!  

This weekend, Husband and I finally had some time off.  I decided it was high time to get all those other seeds planted that I feel compelled to buy every time I walk into Walmart or Tractor Supply.  I had purchased a ton of peat pots and soil and set up my planting area on the porch.  After filling all the pots with soil, I watered them thoroughly, let them soak through, and then watered them again...another rookie mistake on my part in the past.  After a while, I went out and methodically planted the seeds.  By methodically, I mean I very carefully counted out seeds for each pot.  I make a point of this, because again, in my previous rookie state, I would just dump seeds in and then wonder later why nothing is sprouting.  Dumb.  So, after counting carefully, putting vegetables near others that can easily be friends, and labeling each row so I don't wonder what the heck is this stuff, I watered the babies very carefully.  Yup, did that last time too...turned the water on so hard, half of the seeds flew out with the majority of the soil.  

I was able to put several trays in the greenhouse, but there wasn't room for these.  They will stay out on the porch in the "diffused" sunlight, so I think they will be okay.  I managed to plant quite a variety of things...more squash, beans, cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, peppers (red & green varieties), artichokes, spinach, lettuce, kale, bok choy, radishes, onions, cantaloupe, watermelon, and mini pumpkins.  More herbs too...rosemary, as my first efforts were part of the epic fail, and a couple of others that are now escaping my memory.

All tucked away in the greenhouse.

And now to wait...

Hopefully, this venture will be successful.  Of course, using up all the pots and soil did not deter me from buying three more seed packets yesterday at Walmart...he he he.  At least I'm on the upside of the learning curve.  I think...

Epic Fail

So, I am feeling like a not so Future Farmer of America...the term "epic fail" comes to mind.  I was really excited about sowing my vegetable seeds and getting them in my little greenhouse.  I thought this would be a fairly easy task...by easy, I meant that I would put the trays in the greenhouse, water occasionally, and miraculously, seeds would sprout, thus saving me from hours of wandering the aisles of Orchard Supply Hardware looking for vegetables...which everyone knows I HATE (sarcasm) doing.

It seems this sowing seeds and letting them sprout naturally is much harder than it appears.  I thought seeds would know what to do, but it seems they need much more coddling than I have been giving.  I'm not sure why the pesky weeds seed themselves with ease and my vegetable seeds are struggling with this concept.  (I see a correlation between seeds and society...)  Okay, back to the issue at hand...first of all, I had incorrectly assumed that the moisture level in the greenhouse would be fairly high even if I did not water daily.  Apparently, this is a very delicate balance.  I discovered the day after gleefully seeing corn sprouts, that if one doesn't provide adequate water, the seedlets turn an irreversible shade of brown and die.  Ugh.  I tossed those, went to Walmart and purchased new trays and seeds.  Of course, I managed to come home with more seeds than just corn...weird.  Replanted in those little peat disks...I'm not a fan.  Still waiting for sprouts.  The peat disks are just dumb...you add water to them and they poof up to epic proportions.  Then you are supposed to break the netting, ruffle up the "soil", plant the seeds and then hopefully get seedlets.  Yeah, I must be peat disk challenged, or they just suck.  I'm opting for the latter explanation.

There has been some minor success though.  What has sprouted are all the varieties of squash, some tomatoes, some brussel sprouts, cucumber, beans, and peas.  The herbs are either taking their sweet time, or are just not going to do it.  I'm a very impatient gardener.  I don't do well in wait and see situations.   I have a plan for my herbs this year, however, which involves the boy getting me some half wine barrels.  I think instead of letting them cook in the sun all day, I'm going to plant them in the barrels and place them along the porch railing so I can hook up drip to them.  We'll see...lofty aspirations at this point.  The garden isn't even in a position to plant at this point.  There has been little rain, so I'm pretty sure a jack hammer might be in order.  Husband will be so thrilled.

Signing off now and wishing I had given the seedlets more water this morning...Hopefully, they won't be too sad .

Seeds Planted...check!

A 3-day weekend last weekend...what to do, what to do.  Plant seeds of course!  While Husband was navigating the garage (cleaning it out), I decided to get my seeds planted and in the greenhouse.  We placed the greenhouse on the south facing wall of the house.  Should get lots of sunshine there.  So, I got all my supplies out as you can see in the photo below.  I thought I had enough trays and peat pots, but as it turned out, I had to go back to Walmart and get more stuff.  I'm going to have a monstrous vegetable and herb garden.  Not a bad thing, but I hope I have room for everything.  

Just a few of the trays...

Post sowing...soaking up some moisture.

I decided to stick with veggies I'm comfortable with.  I might throw in some fancy stuff (eggplant, artichoke, fancy tomatoes, etc.) later, but just buy the pre-sprouted variety.  I have some tomatoes, which I'm a little skeptical of.  I have never tried those from seed.  I also have peppers, squash, zucchini, beans (blue lake & regular bush), snow peas, and onions.  I would love to do some asparagus, but they seem like they are temperamental and tricky to grow.  I guess I'll look into it, but maybe just rely on the store for that.  

Herbs...I have 9 varieties!

I decided to have more herbs this year.  I have been using more during cooking and they are expensive at the grocery store.  The fresh stuff you buy in the produce department is good, but tends to go bad before I can use it.  Possibly because I forget they are in there and by the time I found them, they hardly resemble the product I originally purchased.  My plan with these, is to get a couple more half wine barrels and put the herbs on the porch.  They don't need so much direct scorching from our lovely Central Valley sun. The porch has a slatted roof, so I think there will be enough sunlight getting to them.  Maybe Husband will hook up a drip system for the barrels, so I don't forget to water them.  I had that issue last year...I would remember to water them when I went out to get some fresh herbs to cook with...I'd get out there and they'd already be dried...oops!!!!  I have basil, rosemary (yummy on my potatoes!), chives, cilantro (guacamole staple!), sage, oregano, fennel, chamomile (try to make my own tea??), and dill (pickles...duh!).  

 A few of my seeds snug as bugs in rugs in their temporary home.

I have a couple of additional trays to put in the greenhouse...it was pouring rain...gloriously...this morning, so I didn't get the rest out there.  The little greenhouse is an amazing little contraption.  Only a few minutes after putting the trays in and zipping up the door, there was condensation inside and the walls felt ridiculously warm.  

Hopefully, I can get the rest of the seeds planted and in the greenhouse tonight.  Can't wait to see the little seedlets in all their glory!  This year should be better as they are more protected from the crazy four-legged friends we have tearing around the property.  

Grapes...the next chapter...

Mother Nature...you win...I concede, but this whole "spring weather" thing is under protest!  76 degrees today?  Really?  It's February for goodness sake.  We had a smattering of rain the other day, but it wasn't enough to make my garden workable.  I'm pretty sure Husband and I are going to have to soak the garden just so we can rototill.  It looks like a huge task and I'm not really looking forward to it.  

On a more positive note, the pleasant weather this last weekend did get me motivated to get my little greenhouse put together.  It was actually super easy and I only put one piece on backwards.  I don't read directions and thankfully, there were some pictures to guide me.  I went to Walmart and picked up more peat pots.  Seed planting...begin!  Pictures to follow in my next post.  

In other news...poultry news, to be exact...the girls are pretty funny as they have become adults.  Their individual personalities come out at different times.  The two leghorns are smaller than the others, but rule the roost from above the door.  They sleep up there every night and in the morning when I go to feed the girls, they watch to see if I have food or not.  As soon as I open the lid to the trash can where I keep the chicken "crack", they walk to the edge of the ledge and jump down onto the condos and start making noise. They rally the rest of the girls when there's food coming...as if they didn't already know.  "Hey, there's that lady with the scoop...it has yummy stuff in it."

The fancy chicken (Auracana) is now a loner, as her sister was murdered in early fall.  I say murdered because I think there was some sort of conflict and some gang mentality that went down in the coop.  Can't really blame them, as both of them acted like the coop divas.  In fact, if we let the girls out to forage in the yard, Diva chicken wanders around like she owns the place.  Then when it's time to come in for the night, she get her feathers all ruffled and refuses to go in.  She'll run willy nilly all over the yard squawking and acting like Colonel Sanders is back from the dead looking for the next bucket victim.  Once we go inside, she'll roost in the tree that hangs over the coop and mock the others with her "charming" chicken voice.  Then the next morning, the crazy running starts all over again.  I managed to trick her the other day and got her back in the coop (she'd been out for almost 2 weeks!).  The others definitely don't like her though.  Too much drama.  She lays some pretty green eggs though...might be her only redeeming quality.

The best part of letting the girls out to forage is when I come home from work.  They all come running up to the car clucking away.  They must think the car is like a giant feeder!  Then they follow me to the deck and one of these days, they are going to follow me into the house.  Hope there's video of that someday!!

My girls!

Time to get some graph paper (yes, I'm old school) and map out the garden.  Again, I learned some things last year and am going to tweak the order of the veggies.  Some day, I'll get it right.  Some day...

Rain, How I Have Missed You!

It is raining...after much hoping, praying, and a little rain jig or two...it is finally falling out of the sky!  I am hoping that we will get some use out of the whole Storm Warn 30 segment on the local news.  That is still a source of comedic entertainment for me.

So, last weekend, I was at my local Walmart (not anything out of the ordinary for me).  For months, all I have seen when I walk in the Garden entrance, was something that looked like Christmas had thrown up.  Gaudy fake trees, a few realistic trees, blow-up Santas, light-up reindeer, clear and multi-colored lights and mostly grouchy people.  When I walked in this last weekend, I saw actual garden items.  What of course sucked me in, was the giant 16 foot seed display.  Top to bottom seed packets.  Everything from herbs to flowers to vegetables.  Giddy...that's how I felt.  My first instinct was to check out every variety they had...maybe take a few photos for future reference.  I tried to remember why I had even come in to the store and remembered that I was in search of yarn for my headband making "non-business".  I tried to walk in to the store, but the pull of the seed display was too much.  I ended up picking out several seed packets, some peat pots, and some replacement peat disks. The spoils of my efforts can be seen below!  Cannot wait to get these little guys started!

And, I'm back...

Has it really been since September that I last blogged about chickens and the trials and tribulations associated with the fowl creatures and my garden?  Doesn't seem like it, but I'm afraid I've been a lazy blogger and got caught up in another project...headbands.  Lucrative, yet short lived (thank God!).

Today marks yet another (!!!) day without any rainfall.  I think the last time it rained was in November.  I tried to Google that, but was unsuccessful.  We need rain...I wouldn't even complain a little bit about the inconveniences it would cause.  Promise.  Husband and I discussed the garden's future plans and how we would very much like to rototill the soil.  I'm afraid if we get the rototiller in there now, several tines would break off, making for some unnecessary projectiles.  Guess I'll have to start soaking the soil now.

On a much more positive note, Husband bought me a little greenhouse to get my little ones started in this year.  One that won't take up valuable dryer top space and one that can be dismantled and put away at the end of the season.  Of course I would love a walk-in sort of greenhouse, which I plan to have someday, but for now, this will do quite nicely.  The price was right and so was the size.  It's still in the trunk of my car.  This might be the week to get it out and assemble it.

This is hopefully going to be easy to put together!

I found another "tool" that might make my life a bit easier.  Territorial Seed Company has a vegetable garden planner app on its website.  You can use it free for 30 days and then pay some silly amount to have it email you when it's time to plant things.  I think I will save the money, use the app, and write down all the pertinent information.  Anyway, the app helps you organize your vegetables in an orderly fashion and gets those veggies that can't get along away from each other.  Pretty cool from what I can tell.  Just started playing with it today.  Speaking of, I'm going to go back and start plugging in things I want to grow and see what pearls of wisdom it can give me.  Do peppers really like to hang out by the tomatoes??  And can brussel sprouts live harmoniously with bush beans??  Stay tuned...