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...

Chickens on Lockdown

I love our chickens.  They are pretty awesome egg layers now and they are good entertainment.  The leghorns have been laying daily and even the "fancies" have been laying as well.

Nice little assortment...

We have our new coop mama and one of the older coop mamas has gotten out of her mid-life crisis and has gotten back to sitting on eggs.  She's as grumpy as ever, but she does a nice job of sitting on the eggs.  Really, it's a pretty enjoyable world out there in the coop.  Key words..."in the coop".  The hens have been permanently banished to the coop.  I'm not sure if one is able to train chickens to poop in a certain area, but I would love to do that.  The last straw this weekend was when several hens were resting on the hood of Husband's truck.  When they vacated, they left us lovely piles of chicken poop.  He was less than amused at this.  Really, they are pretty disgusting critters...they poop EVERYWHERE!!!!!  And all the time too.  So, we put them on lockdown.  They expressed their displeasure at the whole situation by not laying a lot of eggs the last two days.  Maybe they are smarter than I originally thought.

What now??!!

Ah, the country life.  Serene sounds coming from the garden and surrounding areas...beautiful vistas from the back deck...abundant vegetation growing prolifically in the garden and beyond...the scents of nature and the scent of perfumed roses...  Yeah, this is not my scenario at all, is it?  I must spend a few moments on the negative...sort of venting...

The country life indeed.  Serene sounds?  Well, now that the rooster is gone, the sounds are less irritating.  The chickens are still quite loud with their clucking and squawking.  Also a fun  noise is when they are let out and start pecking at the cat food that Ninja hasn't finished.  But sounds aren't that bad.  Beautiful vistas from the back deck?  Well, if you count the monster mansion next door (very pretty, but in the way of my mountains) and the awful looking solar panels.  I have narrowed my "window view" considerably and if  I crane my neck just so, I can still see the awesome tree out by the fence and the surrounding land.  I have to ignore the dead vegetation that frames my views with utter brown-ness.  Bleah!  There is an abundance of vegetation, but like I mentioned in the prior sentence, it is turning or has turned lovely shades of brown.  The scents of nature?  I can do without some of those, thank you.  Dear lord, this weekend produced a scent of nature that I never want to come in contact with again.  I have to back up a bit...Last Thursday, a skunk had obviously traveled through our yard leaving a lovely odor for us to enjoy.  After a quick check that none of the animals had been the intended target, I went along my way and dismissed the incident.  In fact, by the time I left for work, the scent was pretty much gone.  Saturday morning, husband went out to shoot some doves.  He called on his way out and said not to let the dogs out in the yard, as there was a skunk in the front yard.  He wasn't sure if it was resting or dead.

Hard to tell from this angle...

Fair enough...I know better than to tangle with one of those things.  When I left the house, I saw the skunk.  I drove as close to it as possible and noticed at that point that it was clearly dead.  Bugs and things all over it.  Ew.  I let husband know and he said that he would take care of it later.  I figured all was well since the thing was dead.  We all got home, and decided to eat and watch some football.

Several hours later, I went outside to get something from the garage.  As I opened the slider, the most vile and disgusting smell hit our noses.  Another skunk??  Nope...apparently when these creatures die, their stink sack is able to still function somehow.  The whole yard smelled like skunk nastiness.  Time to put the body in the dumpster.  Hoooooaaauuuuggghhhh!!!  What an unpleasant task that turned out to be.  Thankfully, the garbage has been picked up and the awful smell has gone away.

On a much more positive note, it seems that both of the "pretty" hens are laying eggs and both of the Leghorns.  I can't tell which of the other newbies is laying, but there is a sweet one that lets us check under her everyday.  There's a new coop mama in the house.  Woot woot!

I had something else that was positive, but I can't think of what is was...another post on another day...

Fearless Fowl...or Just Stupid

My days have consisted of getting up, going to work, coming home, collecting eggs, and missing out on all the poultry shenanigans that I got to observe during the summer months. They really were an entertaining bunch.

Especially when our little rooster was still here chasing the women folk around and then moments later being chased by the same females. Apparently, he is having quite the time at his new home. Did I ever mention that? I finally got a bit disgusted with the constant day and night crowing. One of my friends with lots of chickens saved his hide. He is one of three roosters and the first night did not venture out of his carrier. Since then, he has tried to initiate his dominance, which hasn't worked out so well. He might as well be a hen at this point. Maybe he should have been much quieter at our house and only crowed during rooster approved hours of the day.

The hens, on the other hand, seem to be quite content with his absence. In fact, they have been laying a total of 10 eggs a day! The leghorns eggs are getting much more adult sized and someone is laying a fairly dark brown egg as well. Still waiting on those green eggs from the strange pair. They really are a weird duo. Neither will go anywhere without the other and if one happens to be outside the coop and the other is inside, there is such panic from both. Last night, when husband and I got home (it was dark), the fluffy ones, as I like to call them, were on top of the coop, rather than inside. There was another one or two hens up there with them. They would not go inside with the rest, so they stayed on top all night. I feel that they are either quite brave...or quite stupid. I don't think any predators would get up there, but you just never know. This morning, they seemed very irritated that they had to fly down and join the others for their breakfast. So much so, that they gave up on getting scratch and went straight to the old fig tree in the corner. So weird. The other two "normal" hens ran right into the coop. I feel as though there was some peer pressure involved. I'm also pretty sure, the other hens aren't big fans of the fluffy ones. They'd better start laying some colorful eggs, or I won't be a big fan either.

I managed to find a bright spot in our sad little garden...there are some tomatoes that are taking a stand against the ants, the grasshoppers, and the arid conditions. I was pretty excited to see some color out there. I have been resisting buying tomatoes at the store, since I'm supposed to have a plethora of them in my own yard. I don't, but I have a few. Already making plans for next year though...see my previous post.

So, back to that work portion of the day...

End of Summer...

  Sadly for me, summer has come to an end, although the calendar states I still have a few weeks until fall truly begins.  Mother Nature certainly is not in sync with the calendar, as she is blasting our world here in the "desert" with 100 plus temperatures.

My garden has suffered greatly over the summer, especially since I last wrote a post.  The extreme heat coupled with a soaker hose blow-out that I was completely unaware of for a few days, plus the dreadful grasshoppers, have made my garden somewhat of a grand failure this year.  Oh, did I mention the crazy red ant invasion at any point?  Ugh.  I have been reduced to having a few cherry tomatoes, and a few yellow tomatoes.  Even the hardy squash I bragged about last year has fallen victim to the elements.  I'm a little upset about the whole thing too.  I had hoped all the improvements we made this year would have done the trick in producing the garden I keep envisioning in my mind.  It also does not help that several of my friends have shown me their ridiculously prolific gardens that have not suffered the same woes as mine.  Well, I see it as a learning curve.  Rather dramatic this year, but I have taken away some very important things this summer.

     1.  weed fabric is a must
     2.  raised rows might be helpful...
     3.  soaker hoses must not bend at any sharp angles ever
     4.  ant hills must be taken seriously and dealt with prior to planting
     5.  grasshoppers...well, let's just keep our fingers crossed on that one

I guess our next step is to till all of the nonsense under...maybe put a large tarp over the debris and wait until next spring.  Until then, I will be sure to post about the chickens and their silliness.

We do have an alert about the "teenagers"...the two leghorns have entered the world of productivity...thankfully for them.  We have been getting two very small white eggs every day this week.  They look kind of weird next to the giant tan eggs we have.  Hooray for them!  They may live and not become nuggets.
                 

Seriously????

I now see why the term "poultry" comes before the other words in my blog title.  I am struggling with the other portions...ugh.  Seriously??  This should not be that difficult.  So to start on a positive note, the chickens are doing great!  Everyone seems happy and well.  The "babies" are not babies anymore and the teenagers seem very grown up these days.  No egg laying from those girls yet, but the more mature mamas are producing on a daily basis.  I've been letting the girls out to graze and they are doing a great job of grasshopper wrangling.  They stay away from the Jaws of Death, also known as Avery, and have daily standoffs with the cats.  The chickens don't seem to feel threatened by the cats...more like the other way around.  Our little rooster hasn't attempted crowing lately, but he does make for great entertainment running around chasing all the girls.  The hens are all much bigger than he is, but he makes up for stature with incredible speed.  One funny note was the other day, one of the Leghorns was trying to get a drink out of the red dog tub attached to the deck.  I watched as it seemed like an opportunity for something entertaining.  I was not disappointed.  Leghorn lost footing and into the water tub she went.  The squawking and wing flapping was hilarious.  My only regret?  Not having video on at the time.

The vegetable garden, on the other hand,  is stressing me out.  It seems, while I am growing a great crop of zucchini and tomatoes, I am also growing a bumper crop of weeds.  I have been out there regularly pulling, spraying, breaking, and mostly cussing.  None of these methods is very effective.  I think my awesome watering system paired with the great soil has kind of backfired.  Ugh.  Husband spent some time with some friends that have a pretty nice vegetable garden.  They used the black weed fabric and some raised rows to combat this problem.  Definitely part of the plans for next year.  Baby steps, I guess.  I really thought this would be the year for smooth garden sailing.  At least the infestation of vermin seems to be under control.

I spoke too soon...bah.  Upon further investigation, it seems I now have an ant problem as well as a grasshopper problem.  Really????  I went over to survey the garden...I'm sitting in one of my "new to me" lounge chairs typing this on the back deck...  I saw some really pretty ripe tomatoes and reached in to pick one.  Next thing I know, I am doing the jig, also known as ow, ow, ow, red ants, red ants!!  Stupid.  They are all over the place!  Munching on the bottoms of my tomatoes.  I am not sure how to combat this latest pest.  I'm thoroughly against spraying any sort of insecticide on the vegetables.  I am not an expert, and would probably only succeed in poisoning a family member.  Moving on through the garden, it seems they also enjoy cucumbers.  Only the pickling variety...wth???

Oh well...lessons being learned every day I guess.  A little jealous of the cat that is curled up in the wicker chair next to me.  He just caught and ate a mouse, had a scoop of some delicious fish flavored kitty kibble this morning, tormented the dog for a few minutes, and now gets to nap in the sunshine.  No worries, no stress, no wondering how to get rid of weeds or ants...of course he could wander out into the road and get flattened by a car, so there's that.  Thinking positively.

Weeds...they are calling...egh.