Garden and Chickens April-May

Blue is now not welcome into the garden unless on a leash. She enjoys running and rolling and an occasional dig to hide a treasure. She does have another 2.5 acres to run on, so don't feel too bad for that cute face of hers! We got that fenced in this year so that she can't get out. But we will not be watering it to stay green, so she has a limited season of frolicking- as long as it is green the foxtails don't come out.Remember that other green picture where blue was running? This is the same site but with a little Chris TLC. He tilled the area, obtained 2 truckloads of decent garden dirt, and set up soaker. I believe the final measurements are about 30'x60' with rows every 3 feet.
At this point, I am growing and growing so I had to pace myself as bending over just isn't what it used to be! I brought down a load in the wheel-barrel/barrow? and lined those starters up!
I tarped this little patch of dirt last season after picking down 6inches, and layering manure and newspaper and dirt. The only picking this year I will be doing is of veggies! There is some beautiful red and green leaf lettuce Trent and Tracy shared with us, potatoes, kale, and peas in this little bed.
We needed to move the chickens out of the garage-STAT! It was getting pretty crowded in their little cage. Thankfully our barn was just the spot to house these guys. Chris did need to vamp it up a bit to make it raccoon and other critter proof. He used chicken wire and other scraps we had around to make it safe for the growing chicks. They aren't technically free range yet, but they have a huge barn stall, fresh air, and fresh yummy kale, and other garden scraps to enjoy!
Roosting already! At this point we made them very self sufficient compared to their younger weeks. We still aren't sure about what is to come with the kiddo, and may need to be gone for periods of time at the NICU or even in the bay area if he has any surgical intervention. So, we made the minor investment in a self-waterer that hooks up to the hose, as well as a large feeder that needs filling about once weekly. They are pretty much on their own...Until they start laying! We will be needing to gather eggs daily.

An April Day with Lily and Ava

Wynt was hosting a baby shower so I offered to have the older 2 girls come over and stay the night. It was so much fun and I put them to work:). They had a blast scooping up dirt and filling containers and planting. I was having a tired day, and at that point was ~25weeks pregnant.
They couldn't get enough of the chicks. They would disappear for a minute and be in the garage staring at the chicks.
After about 2 hours of getting dirty we came in for a rest. Lily came in and laid on the couch "My back hurts!" I didn't work them that hard...really!! They walked back and forth taking the new seed containers to the greenhouse and I directed the traffic. We then watched princess and the frog, and Aunt Chels went down for a nap! We had breakfast for dinner and the girls cracked the eggs. They slept like little angels in their sleeping bags, and got up early since I had to work. Ava got dressed faster than you could imagine, and Lily wanted to dawdle a little and see the chicks some more. We had a blast and can't wait for them to help gather eggs!

Garden and Chickens March-April

They were pretty cute but grew sooo fast. We needed to get them out of the garage cage much sooner than anticipated. 3 araconas and 3 rhode island red hens sure got crowded in their chateau.Chris built an amazing greenhouse that was unfortunately blown down in a windy storm. Chris's dad was hanging out at our house and while we were gone at work he constructed a much sturdier version. There are doors on both sides, and it was about 6.5 feet tall, 5 feet wide, and 10feet long. Big enough for us to get into some trouble!! The nights were still getting into the 30's-40's so we needed to provide heat for our seeds to germinate. We thought we would be forking it over big time but didn't notice the increase too much, just a few bucks. (Also, the chickens required a heat lamp so that their Ritz was ~80-90degrees. We were thankful that we didn't need to switch to candlelight to power the chickens and greenhouse project.)
I enlisted co-workers, family , and friends to collect plastic containers to start seeds in. Some were started in a sunny windowsill but I got carried away and ran out of room FAST!

Starter peas!
Cilantro in windowsill, before greenhouse was up!

Garden and Chickens Feb-March

Since I am just now getting back to this, we will go back in time a ways....

We really wanted to get chickens last year but with moving in late May we had our hands full...Not that we don't now...but it seemed like the right time to get things going. Chris crafted a mini coop for these critters to grow in. They were housed in the far corner of our garage for what seemed like forever but was only about 5 weeks. We got them from Lee's Feed the week before Easter.The Ritz! Hahaha!
Growing already! The chick stage is really high maintenance. We tried to keep everything as clean as possible-bleaching their water bowl in between fill-ups (they can't seem to be potty trained, so they went everywhere...) I wore gloves whenever handling them to take prego-precautions.
Blue enjoying the future garden site...Stay tuned for what grows next!

Awake and Waiting

Well this has been an interesting week...er 38 weeks! Waking up sweating like crazy isn't one of my favorite things in the world, but what are you going to do? I did the old wet towel trick but also had to resort to ice water and now out of bed. That icky feeling when you wake up warm like that is not so pleasant. We are kind of waiting for a birthday these days. A few changes in my body in preparation for this kid add to the waiting anticipation. We also both seem to be requiring more sleep...Likely due to interrupted night sleep...also possibly due to attempting to bank hours in preparation for what is ahead! These interesting sleep patterns just might lend themselves to blogging. I think I am back:)

Edibles

Peaches or almonds? I am leaning towards almonds at this point. Our peaches are already turning orange and these are still small and green. This tree did not fruit last year.
A plum tree on our property that also did not fruit last year. They are purple and delish now! Chris is the primary picker! The deer also enjoy the ones that fall to the ground. I thought we would have enough to make some plum jelly but we are eating them pretty rapidly...so sweet!
As I was watering a few months back I hit my head on something in this tree. After a bit of deliberation, Wynt and I decided that it was a cherry! (they were green at the time). Some weeks of sun and yep! Sour but large cherries. Chris tends to enjoy them as is, and we have picked at least 5 cups so far. They are pretty firm, but I have had them on the counter to soften for ease of pitting. I pitted 2 cups of cherries from Gramps's cherry tree, and his are smaller and softer- I was able to use a straw. Hopefully I will be able to pit these and freeze for a pie later on!
Our asparagus is slow and steady. We have been able to get a few thicker stalks. My girlfriend Tracy said hers were much thicker...Not sure if it is the soil or our crowns we started with. Chris built this bed from pressure treated wood, lined it with chicken wire, and weed liner, and filled it with lots o dirt. We put the asparagus in the back and russet, blue, and fingerling potatoes in the front. The deer have now been trimming the potato vines for us (Poisonous?!). They are ready to be dug, it is the trick of finding a cooler morning and also the energy to bend over for a period of time:). Another hopeful harvest before Owen comes...Who knows? So these photos are all taken of our edibles up by our house. The garden is another story that deserves it's own posting.

Back to blogging?

Hello all, I am sure not so many followers these days since it has been almost a year since I have updated this bad boy! I am seriously considering using this as our method for updating people on baby Owen, but I have to test it out on my phone. Without a laptop it may be tricky...Anyway, ironically the last post was on Owen's due date (a year ago) 7/23. We are taking bets when you think his birthday will be... Let us know!