Ninja the Feral Kitten

December 4, 2019

Sunday afternoon Matt came in saying Panther (our outside cat was fighting with Macaroni our inside/outside kitten). When we went to look we realized that it was not Macaroni (who was currently inside) but a full black kitten. Monday the Black Kitten was back, and Tuesday. Tuesday it was up near the house, clearly under nourished. One of our College age daughters was visiting and went to check on it. It did not want to be picked up but would rub between and around her legs and cry. I know they say never to feed feral cats or they won't leave. I felt bad for it though and really I don't object to it, as long as it stays outside. I don't think Panther agrees, but I figure if the kitten and Panther have enough of an issue, Panther can run it off. I was chopping chicken for dinner and let the girls give the kitten a tiny bit of it, then as we watched it devour the chicken like a starving child, I let the girls give it a little dry cat food, and I brought out the pan the chicken was cooked in so it could drink out the warm juices from it. That seemed to satisfy her little tummy and she soon ran off.

The girls named her Ninja.

When we moved here we built an outside shelter for a cat, thinking our outside cat would live outside. When our first shelter cat disappeared and we feared a wild animal had gotten to it, we started locking up our 2nd Shelter cat at night in the shop. As winter approached we insulated the outside shelter that we had moved to the shop thinking the cat would like to be even warmer in the shop. She has rejected it, and instead has a variety of spots around the shop she prefers, including some old hay we got for the bunny we keep in a box and the cat likes to sleep on.

Our original plan was to keep the shelter under our back porch steps to make it easier to feed the outside cat.

I just moved the shelter and a tarp there. It is much drier under the porch and with the entrance facing the house, but plenty far away from it to enter, a cat could be mostly protected from the wind. I hope the tarp will help keep the house dry. It may not be needed, but hopefully won't hurt :) I may adjust it some the next time I go out with real snow gear, but it is also possible the tarp would freeze to the ground by then.

I don't know if the cat will accept it or not. We will see.

Two New Chickens

November 11, 2019

Saturday Matt picked up two new chickens for us. They are young White Leghorns. They have a smaller comb than the one we have. The one we have was a great layer, especially in warmer weather when some of the others slacked off some.

We are back to 12 hens and our rooster. With the two chicks Stir-fry raised for us, 4 will be first year hens and should lay most days, KFC is 5-6 years old and likely won't lay, Stir-Fry is about 3-4 years old and may not lay much but we are hoping we can get her to raise another set of chicks. 6 are 2-3 year old  and should lay some but not as much as last year.

This year we tried the preserving eggs where you store them in water and slack/pickling lime. It does not pickle the eggs but keeps them "fresh". The only difference we have noticed with them is the one we were warned about, the yolks break easier so if you want to use the eggs to separate the whites out, it might be harder. We started storing some in June and are down to 2 eggs. I hope to store more next year and get longer into the winter without having to buy any. Laying slacked off the end of September a lot, and October and November we were only getting one egg a day, if that. so we started using our bucket. It didn't last long but was great to have the chance to try it on a smaller number of eggs. Two or Three cracked a little in the bucket and we just composted them rather than risk them, but most did great.

We have been getting stuff ready for Spring to plant more -- I have a long list of wants  and plan to shop for plants Jan/Feb when the ordering season opens to get bushes and trees in April/May and Bees around May too.  For now I am enjoying a couple weeks of nice weather before winter is sure to hit.

Salvage

September 2019

Just a few of the things we have been working on.

My husband calls himself a wood hoarder. 

Really all this wood keeps me warm all winter and is much cheaper than the furnace. 

He is pleased with the supply for the coming winter.

The shed on the right is the extension my awesome brother made.

It is full of boxes of loose free straw and kindling.

The Adult swing ;)

Salvaged wood, a little left over from beehives  

Some of the hardware was left over from the child swing set

I did have to buy a little hardware. 

I think in all it cost about $40 with ropes, bolts and carabiners...

We have made 2 Horizontal hives/Russian long boxes.

Mostly Salvaged wood, I did buy about $5-10 worth of supplies

 a couple wood strips and hinges

They have an interior width of 45 inches, and are intended to hold at least 30 frames.

My brother is amazing. 

We added a follower board so it can house 2 colonies over winter or early spring if needed

or can just give access to part of the hive at a time.

The second hive is almost done, it needs the hinges added and wire "chain" to keep the lid contained.

I want a wedge for both the hives to keep the lid up, just in case.

Now I need to build all the frames for the hives. I have the parts, just need to sit down and do it.

I built one to use to check sizing during hive construction, but have 99 more to build.

I couldn't have done a fraction of this without my sweet husband gathering supplies for us and my talented brother guiding/doing the building.

I have started a swarm/nuc box. I may never catch a swarm, but I want try anyway.

Today we gleaned several boxes of potatoes.

Now back to playing in the dirt before snow flies.

We are looking to get a variety of fruit plants in the spring...

Yeah!

My Bad

Sept 13, 2019
I just went to pull eggs out from under Stir Fry and give her two eggs. I plan to give her all the eggs from today and tomorrow. I had not idea she had been laying and storing eggs.
This is all I pulled out from under her.

Sept 30, 2019
This just gets crazier. Over two weeks later and we have not seen a single egg from Stir Fry. Not one.
We moved her and her babies/teens to the main coop last night. It is getting colder and we want them to keep warmer with the main flock.  The two pullets are not showing any signs of being roosters. We are hopeful that they are both hens.

SUPRISE

September 13, 2019

Last night we thought it was weird that Stir Fry and her chicks were in early and over in the corner instead of on the bars like they have been.
Today I was surprised that her teen chicks were in the bushes alone. I went to check and found Stir Fry in the corner alone again. I was even more surprised to find she had eggs under her. There is no way they are fertile so I am going to try to mark and swap in eggs from the main coop for her. So crazy that she is sitting on them this late in the year. I guess I could try to break her of being broody, but I prefer to let her raise them if that is what she wants but I will want to get her good food and treats to try to help her stay healthy and warm.
CRAZY!!!

Pre-teen Chicks?

September 6, 2019

Chicks are 6 weeks old now. Fully feathered. We are waiting to see if they are hens or roosters. We are hoping to know before needing to move them into the main coop for winter. They are still a little small for that anyway.
They are fully feathered though and have been roosting up high in the coop with Stir Fry for a week or so now. 
They still do the frequent baby chick peep sound, but that is getting much louder.
Stir Fry still watches out for them but doesn't give them as much preferential treatment with food anymore. If we offer a treat and she wants it she gulps it down rather than feeling the need to teach the babies what it is.
We have let them free range in the yard because their fenced area is much smaller than the main coop.

I just learned about using google maps to measure areas. If I am using it right it looks like we have just about 1/3 an acre for the animals field.

Soy Sauce headed out on the left, Honey Mustard center

Soy Sauce

Honey Mustard with Stir Fry in the Back

Honey Mustard with Stir Fry

Bunny trouble

August 26, 2019

This past week the bunny has been escaping the field. We have now fixed three holes in the fence she helped us discover, and put latches on both the fences. I hope the great bunny escape is now over...

September 6, 2019

No more bunny escapes lately so I think we are ok now.

Swinging

August 18, 2019

Our daughters favorite swing broke. This week my brother and I, with help from the other children, made her a new swing set. Well mostly my brother made it and I tried not to get in the way too much as I tried to help.

It has a glider swing, a nest swing, a belt swing and a sit/stand board swing and a "disk", well really more of a semi-hexagon shape... 

One Chicken over the Coop Fence

August 13, 2019

We have had to accept one of our chickens may have left. "Dark Meat" seems to have vanished with no signs. Many wild animals would leave evidence. It is possible a large predictor bird got her, but I suspect she got out and may have been injured or eaten. Chickens will typically head back to the coop at night and we have not seen her for two nights now. That leaves us 8 hens, one rooster and two chicks.

August

August 11, 2019

Baby chicks picture updates.
We have named the yellow one Honey mustard and the black one Soy Sauce.
The Honey Mustard is still bigger than Soy Sauce. We are not sure if the two days head start are still in play or if perhaps it is a breed thing or if Honey Mustard will turn out to be a rooster. We shall see.

My Husband has labeled himself a wood horder. We salvage wood. There is a dump/pit that has wood separated from the rest of the trash. building materials are also separated from branches, mulch is separated from that... We have wood in the shop to build with, but the wood shed currently looks like this

If I had to guess this is 2-3 times what we had last winter. 

That is great because last winter around February we were running out and cutting up our building supplies to burn. It wasn't hard to resupply in the spring but even as the snow cleared it was still cold enough at times the girls and I made a couple runs to pick up stuff to burn from the dump/pit. 

It is great that he is so dedicated to keeping us warm.

We expanded and improved to hastily built beds from last year for our raspberries and

 ran wire on the north side to give them some support from the wind.

I hope to build 1-2 more. 

Hopefully get some canes for Yellow "Anne" raspberries for a September raspberry harvest.

We have also built several boxed between our west Pine trees. 

I am hoping to build some more by the "pasture" as well.

We hope to add several plants in the spring:

Gooseberries on the North of the house,

Serviceberries/Juneberries/Saskatoonberries bush type, Goji bush and a Siberian Pea bush on the West of the field

Pink Champange, Rovada, and a Jonkheer Van Tets Currant bush on the west of the garden area, also a continue a sunflower patch for our daughter.

I don't know if we will get to it next year or not but we would also like to add: 

Grapes, hardy Kiwi, possible persimmon and quince trees.

I plan to use the old metal swing set as a frame to grow grapes on, likely in our garden area.

I have considered building beds and a trellis by my brothers Miny house to grow the Kiwi.

We have a North west corner that gets plenty of light for one fruit tree and a couple gaps on the North side of our property with plenty of southern exposure for a few more fruit trees, 

and maybe some bushes.

I prefer to mostly plant potential food for us. Even if we don't eat or harvest it all. Long ago my husband and I agreed that we would prefer to use water on food plants.

We plan to fill most our beds with foods, many with perennials or self sewing annuals.

I have to admit I do really want a bleeding heart plant though, and I did buy some Hollyhock seeds because I really like them :)

My wonderful brother has agreed to help me build beehives and a swing set for our daughter 

Her favorite glider swing broke. 

I think it is the single most human used outdoor item on our whole property.

I ordered a glider and a nest/saucer swing and we plan to build a couple others like a disk swing and a wooden sit/stand swing. We have picked out some wood to build a big A frame for it. I hope from here we can also build an "adult" swing for me to sit on when she wants me to come out with her.

Lots of big building plans. We will see how far we get :)

I love it here!

August 4, 2019

Definitely have 2 baby chicks. The first golden one and one little black one.

We have been surprised how quickly the Mom brought the babies out of the coop. They were only a couple days old.

We learned the first day out, that even though there are bars to clutch on the ramp into the coop that are placed about the same distance as a base bar the chicks will not return to the coop themselves. Each night we have to place Stir-Fry in the coop, then quickly grab the babies and put them in with her. Stir-Fry seems to try to teach the babies to come up the ramp, she goes up and calls them, back down talks to them, then back up and calls again... the babies just wander around looking lost and don't even attempt the ramp. We have had a couple traumatic nights for the chicks and their Mom as we learned the best way to do this. We tried putting a chick up but the chick cries from the coop and Stir-fry wanders around lost and the other chick stays too close for us to grab her. I got pecked one night trying. One night we were able to show Stir-Fry that we put the chick in the coop but most nights it is easiest to wait until she settles under the coop with them, as if to sleep there for the night, then grab her and stick her in and grab the babies quickly and stick them in with her before she leaves the coop. Our two daughters are great chick catchers but neither wants to mess with the Mama. One night when we were out later our daughter recruited her brother to help. They were both a little exasperated at us when we pulled up just after they had gotten the chicks in.

 It is warm enough out we just let the chicks stay outside all day with their Mom and put their food and water out. They have shade under the coop and some wind protection there too.
I have read all about baby chicks needing a heat lamp for weeks but these babies don't spend much time under their Mom and seem fine.

The girls were eating raspberries by the coop and Kylo our rooster came over and asked for some. Funny because he has never asked for food before and doesn't even always come running like the hens when we bring scraps out. He will tell his ladies if he finds a tasty treat though. We gave him some raspberries and though he shared some, he ate more than he often will. I guess they are his favorite food?

Stir-Fry will break up and feed the raspberries to her chicks too. She makes a similar call to Kylo's that says "yummy food here, come and get it" and the chicks will come. At first she rejected the chick crumbles we were trying to feed for her babies, we put in grain for her that she is used to, but worried the chicks were not getting enough so for a couple days we gave them scrambled eggs. They have decided the crumbles are ok now and will eat them, but definitely prefer scrambled eggs and raspberries.

I tossed some bolting lettuce to the hens. The bunny in the field came to steal some from them and rammed into one of the hens and stole her lettuce. She pecked the bunny back, for a few minutes it looked like there would be a stand off until the hen backed off.

Chick update

July 25, 2019

Looks like we got a second one this morning but then she moved the babies off of three eggs. I am wondering if one was bad and cracked open because there was an unpleasant odor and three eggs left. It is possible that there were three babies that hatched but, she had abandoned the last three eggs so I just buried them. Two had been long enough that I don't think they would hatch and the third was questionable. I hope she is happy with here two babies and that they grow well. I am excited for a better look at the chicks.

Baby chick

June 23, 2019

We have a baby chick. Stir-fry hatched one baby, she still has 5 eggs we will give a couple days to see if they hatch out at all...

Macaroni

June 13, 2019

Our youngest has spent most the year asking for an orange kitten. We missed our chance months ago. Her sister expanded her vision of other possibilities. Yesterday we notice the shelter we like, had several more kittens. They headed out thinking they were getting a tabby, but came home with this one.

The shelter named her Macaroni. Our daughters liked her name.
She is cute.

Broody Hen

June 5, 2019

Tuesday the 2nd we noticed one hen on the nesting box extra long. She has done this before, but at bedtime when she was still in the box we knew we had a broody hen! We were excited. Our Rooster has been active among our hens and though we have a mixed flock and know our chicks will be interesting, this is still  exciting to us. We moved her and her eggs to the Broody coop and she settled right in. We have given her food and water right by her and open the door for her to get fresh air and sunlight during the day, and close it at night to keep her safe. We know she has 4 eggs. We are debating candling her eggs or just leaving her to her business and seeing what happens. I am so excited!!!

Update:
I have read about if you leave the Broody Hen with the others some become a little crazed and the other hens act afraid of her.
Today we put a better hinged gate on the broody run. (The old one was just a pallet tied to the post. Our quick fix when we needed somewhere to stash a few chickens someone gave us, for a couple days.)
Just as we were about to head inside, my Sweetheart noticed Stir-Fry (our broody hen) digging in the garden. Head feathers bristles like when she is annoyed. She was furiously digging so we guessed she wanted worms. We went to help her and dug up sections and gave her a pile of worms. She ate through them, then was wandering a bit more. When we were pretty sure she had enough worms we were trying to help her back into the coop area. She was NOT happy!!! When we did get her back in though she headed right for her eggs (Side note:  Happy, happy, she laid another egg so there are 5 there now!!! Yeah!!!
She seemed to be the epitome of the jokes of crazed hormonal pregnant woman seeking their pickles and ice cream! Help where you can then get out of their way!

Summer

June 30, 2019

Wow, June flew!
We have reduced our Flock to 7 good layers, 1 Fair layer and 1 pet chicken, with our Rooster to protect them all. I am glad going into winter we should only be feeding those that should lay decently next year.
We have been trying preserving eggs in Slake Lime/Pickling Lime/Hydrated Lime/Calcium Hydroxide...  and water. Supposedly this is one way people saved eggs for winter in "the old days". We have 2-3 dozen and are adding to it. We keep 2 dozen in the fridge and store the rest.

Some of the frozen plants seem to be making a come back. It may be too little too late, but we will see. I have lots of Kale that my family is not loving... sad.

The field across the road has a beautiful, though overgrown yellow rose bush. I have never been super fond of roses, but I really like these ones. I am thinking of taking a cutting or more from it. I have read about putting it in a potato to root it. I wonder if it would work.

My brother has finished putting pallet siding on the miny house. I want to oil it to keep it looking nice... I love it!

We have set aside wood my sweetheart salvaged for a picnic table and are talking about building beehives rather than buying them. We would still buy the frames but building the hives could save a lot and give us flexibility for different hive types. I have seen a horizontal one I like the idea of, but also like the traditional Langstroth hive too. A top bar could be interesting too...
It would be awesome to have honey and have bees to pollinate plants.

I have high hopes for bees in the spring and more plants :) June berries, currants, sun chokes, ramps, walking onions, miners lettuce.... food and beauty!

Happy First Day of Summer

June 21, 2019

Happy First Day of Summer...
I woke up to unexpected frost :(
It has been chilly the last couple days but I did not see a frost warning. I should have checked specifically for it or thought about it more, but did not.
I think 2 tomato plants by the house, a couple patty pan squashes and two Loofah plants, a couple peppers all by the house seem ok,
Most the squashes, peppers and tomatoes were in raised beds or the main garden and they may not survive. If they come back are likely severely stunted. I ran water on them as soon as I noticed but I think it was too late.
Happy First Day of Summer

(First frost of the year happened the Night of September 29th, many of our plants came back but not fast enough. We harvested some squashes and a few tomatoes, but most were still just solid green. I guess we could have done friend green tomatoes or green tomato salsa but I didn't. I was busy getting others stuff done and had to let it go.)

Note from our daughter

While I am at camp please:

1. Check the bunny bed for eggs.

2. Check Bunny food and give her fresh water

3. Let her out in the morning

4. Check for eggs again.

 

5. Tuck her in at night and give her a treat (raddish or lettuce are her favorites).

Our chickens share about 1/2 an acre with our daughters bunny. We have learned the bunny will stay in the fenced area so during the day she lets her run around and just props open a door for her to go in and out. Apparently the chickens have discovered and claimed it.

Scare

June 9, 2019

Last night one of our chickens was laying on the ground refusing to move, it seemed almost like she could not move. We put her in the extra coop and thought we would have to bury her by morning. This morning we went out and she seems fine. She is up, moving around, eating and drinking. We are so grateful!

Last night we also had a frost warning. We covered all the plants with buckets and sheets. We are not sure if it really frosted or not, but everything seems fine this morning. Double blessings this morning!

June

June 8, 2019

This month has held new adventures.

Sadly one of our chickens died. It was moving slow and seemed to just want to sleep. We separated her from the flock and put her in the smaller coop/run area. We put her near food and water. The rest of the flock would come by the fence to check on her. At times she seemed to perk up but mostly she slept. The first night she put herself in the coop, the second night my husband moved her in. The next morning she had passed on. My husband buried her. She was one of the KFC's that our children really liked because she was friendlier and seemed smarter. Our son was at work and somehow we failed to tell him. Several days later he asked about her, if she was doing better. Oops. Sorry.

Our son built, filled and planted a 4*4 raised bed with trellis for his Senior project. Our daughter is caring for one as a goal for her Personal Progress. I have 3 others I am caring for and we have a "main" garden area for corn, pumpkins, big squashes and extra tomatoes. The back bed is mostly planted with strawberries and we have two raised raspberry beds and others planted on the north side of the house. I am working on a herb bed in front of the house and just added some Lavender. I started Basil, parsley and sage inside. My Rosemary and Lavender did not do well from seeds so I bought some. I plan to add some garlic and garlic chives to the onion chives, mint and other herbs already out there. I love all the green coming up :)

Today a Western Tanager flew into our window so hard it left some orange and yellow feathers smeared on the window. Odd because I have not cleaned the windows yet this year. They are kind of dirty. Poor bird sat stunned on the near by bush for quire a while. So long our 4 year old was out talking to it and getting pretty close and it didn't fly away.

Our poor mower was abused last year then I made a few mistakes with it and hastened its demise. We think long term we want a big riding mower, but in the mean time we bought a self-propelled mower and a lighter weight one to work together to keep the property reasonable mowed. I called my Dad to ask about mower advice. I love that he gave me the advice to research it. He suggested going to a lawn equipment store to talk to knowledgeable employees. We looked into that and decided to research online. We learned a lot and feel good about our purchases fitting our current needs and resources. I am so grateful for my Dad's wise advice.

Sadly we killed our weed eater too, but it was corded and really a gas or battery one would better meet our needs here. We are currently investigating them....

We have been working on a 100-200 foot long "flood bed" along our creek. It is a 2-3 foot tall raised bed to help keep spring water in the creek and also provide a place to plant perennial foods. We felt it would provide multiple uses in one, and hopefully be more attractive then a giant berm of dirt and weeds or un-kept grass.  It is kind of hard to balance allowing for natural beauty and controlling the chaos/weeds... it is fun trying though :)

Raspberries

May 16, 2019

I tried 3 times last year to start some raspberries here.
Attempt one: I bought some discount raspberries, at a not great time of year to start them.  They seemed to die :(
Two: A friend let me get starts from her bed. I think the chicken manure was still to hot in the bed and they fried.
Three: They seemed ok and I had high hopes, but when a friend offered me other starts I realized hers had leaves all over and mine did not and figured I had killed the third one, so we got more to try again. A few have leaves so I thought I would get just some. I had left the old ones from last year, not sure why. This week I was prepping the beds by the house for strawberries and herbs and realized that one of the raspberries I had planted on the North side of the house (yes I know not a great place for Raspberries) had leaves on it. Today I was working on the beds again and pulled up one of the canes I thought was dead and was shocked to see new growth on it. Yeah! I realized that the canes from last years third try were actually alive and well. I moved more over to the North side and now have 18 plant starts there. And about 20 in the main garden area (I need to re-work the raspberries there to give them more room). I am so excited!!!!!
Next year we should have a great crop of Raspberries!!!!

War of the Thistles

Last year we discovered many thistles on our land. We worked to remove them from the yard area. We dug up some on other parts of the land but focused on the yard. This year we have worked to remove them from the middle yard, chicken yard, and area by the creek. Yesterday we finished by the creek and earlier in the week we finished in the chicken yard. Some regrow and some may have been missed, but for the most part they are gone there. Next we need to work on the perimeter by the trees and on the other side of the creek. It is nice to walk the land and only see an occasional thistle, rather than having them over take the land.
We can enjoy the flowers they make on other peoples land without having to worry about stepping on them on ours.

Black sex link

Not sure -- coloring is like a Colombine Wyadotte, but I am not sure Might be a white leg horn but she is calm and that breed is typically high strung

Looks like a Golden Wyandotte, with Brahma feathers on her feet and smaller like a Brahma

Not sure Best guess White Rock

I have been calling this one Red Sex Link but I think I was wrong and it is a Rhode Island Red, and I think ours that we named Buffalo is also a Rhode Island Red.

We also got a Buff Orphington, but I did not get a picture of her.

Chicken Trading

May 7, 2019

Last week a neighbor offered us 13 one year old chickens (12 hens and a rooster). We like the idea of younger hens, but did not necessarily want that many. We offered to split them with a friend, and give her the rooster. We just gave away 6 of our hens on Craigslist. Maybe we did not chose the wisest way, but we picked 3 that were Barred Rocks, 2 that never fit in well that we got from a friend last fall, and the Silver Wyandotte that fights with the rooster. We kept two Buff Orphingtons, a Rex Sexlink, 2 ISA Browns, and 2 Australorps. Only one is young enough to likely lay much. It will be interesting the next day or two, to see how many eggs we get, but we have high hopes the 1 year olds will lay a lot so we will be fine, but might choose to give away a few more, or at least put them in the separate coop and test their egg laying prowess. 

I also just saw a thing about saving eggs in a "water bottle" solution. One lady online says she kept hers for 8 months. I want to try it. Using Pickling lime or Calcium hydroxide in a water solution. Eggs all winter would be cool!

May 9, 2019
Tonight we picked up the chickens.
We got a Rooster, 2 Barred Rocks, a Black Sex link, A Wyandotte, a Red Sex Link, and a Buff Orphington for our Friends that gave us our Rooster and an Australorp.

We got for us: A Red Sex link, A Buff Orphington, A Black Sexlink, 2 white ones we are not sure about -- one might be Might be a Austra White or a Columbian Wyandotte, the other might be the Autra White or a white leghorn.. not sure, then one that looks like a golden and white Wyandotte. 

The smallest white one escaped as we were putting her in the coop, we had to catch her and put her back. That was exciting... I feel bad for her, she was scared, but they are all settled down for the night. We all (Matt, Me, Tober, Wyle, Emma and Avi) went to get them. Matt and I put them in boxes and the children loaded them into the car. ...

We have 13 chickens again and a rooster. I hope that this was a good choice and that they all settle into their new homes well. 

May

April showers Bring May flowers

It is now May 5th --Cinco de Mayo -- Who needs an excuse to eat Mexican food? I love it anyway

May the 4th Star Wars Day
We worked together on a variety of projects. Put tin on the new Hay/Straw shed, Moved composted straw from the floor of the old Hay Shed to the garden area, worked on the fencing around the Broody coop, dug thistles, took apart pallets for the flood bed...

Earlier in the week our eldest son mowed, and mowed and mowed some more while I puttered on other projects. I was really grateful! He also helped put up and build sections of the flood bed. We are now at 44 of the 100-150 feet we are looking to build!!! Not bad since this is our summer goal and it is almost 1/2-1/3 complete before summer vacation begins.

It is great seeing the green grass, trees and shrubs grow new leaves...

This week we might be getting some new chickens. A neighbor up the road offered us his younger chickens. We are splitting them with a friend who gave us the rooster in the first place, then later gave us one of their hens. We hope to give away a few of our older, less appreciated hens so we can keep the younger ones to lay for the next couple years. We have been getting 6-8 eggs a day, not bad for a mostly older flock. We are so blessed!

Plants

April 13th

Yesterday I moved our pea starts outside and planted some carrots, rainbow carrots and radishes in the raised beds we built last year. I hope they do ok. The compost is not as broken down as I hoped...

I have tomatoes, assorted peppers, broccoli, brussel sprouts, onions, eggplant, marigolds, assorted herbs, kale and lettuce started inside. I hope to start squash, yellow squash, pumpkin, zuchini, cucumbers and pickling cucumbers inside soon.

I built two plant lights -- one from a light I pulled from under a kitchen cabinet we moved into the laundry room, and the other from a second hand light. I bought LED daylight bulbs for the plants. They are growing in small red solo type cups with a couple holes drilled in the bottom, in plastic hospital tubs I got cheap second hand, some are up on boxes to keep them closer to the lights until they get bigger... It is fun to play with the plants.

For projects they are doing two of our children are going to plan and tend their own raised beds. One for a school project is going to build another raised bed.

I saw a video about a trellis system using fishing line I want to try for the beds. My sweetheart had
some fishing line already. I need to get more wood then set it up... hopefully in the next week or so.

I have been digging thistles in the chicken yard. The birds follow me around to get worms out of the holes as I move to another one. One of the Buff Orphingtons (Nuggets) and a ISA Brown (KFC) are the bravest and stay close the others follow. One of the newest birds an Australorp (Stir-fry) was almost accidentally hit with a flying thistle as my bad aim missed the wheelbarrow. She stayed farther away after that. Oops.

I have slowing been wacking down dried weeds from last year and pulling rocks out. We would love to burn the weeds but we are afraid of the fire getting out of control so we have not tried it yet.

Today we hope to put of the first section of the "Flood bed". A hundred plus foot long, 2.5 foot high raised bed by the creek. We hope to plan perrinial foods in it and also have an extra barrier from the creek spring melts.

We hope to built up a wall/dike/burm on the North side where the water drains from the field behind us in the spring. We are pulling rubble from the creek bed that previous owners left there, then will bury that with dirt from "run" to make that part deeper and the wall next to it higher at the same time.

Lots of work ,but it feels good to be productive and see progress on our land.

PS the chickens are laying so well I have 3 dozen eggs in the fridge all from them. I have not bought eggs for at least a month, I think maybe two, and I have given some away and have plans to bring some to family in a week or so....

New Experience

March 26, 2019

The weather is nicer and I have been enjoying "working" in the yard in the afternoons. Adding dirt and compost to the raised beds, improving the dirt (hopefully towards soil) in the beds by the house by adding compost...
Along the creek bank I noticed some largish rocks that I knew would be an issue when we go to mow so I decided to move them. I noticed something else in the creek bank and went down to investigate...
It was a toilet seat, with a full one toilet, broken into many, many pieces.
I know some "country" people pick somewhere and create their own "dump." We have found what we think was the remnants from a box spring, full on bags of garbage partly buried, tons of contributions to our tetanus bucket (a metal bucket we put random metal stuff that we don't plan to use but want contained until we are ready to take it to a recycling place), many, many items that one of our daughters named "treasures" last summer.
The toilet was different for me for a different reason. For years I have lamented that I wish I was strong enough to move a toilet. The few times we have needed to pull up our toilet over the years I have to wait for my husband to be available. This time I was able to move it myself, though it filled 3 boxes, and they were heavy, I could move them by myself. I have now moved a toilet and don't have a strong desire to ever do it again :)

Spring Break Kick off

March 18, 2019
Today Spring Break had a great start.

The snow is receding 

There is still an iceberg wall in the creek bank

My Awesome brother took the old metal door that we had on sawhorses and

 turned it into a great work table/bench

Panther is hunting mice and found several :)

My Awesome brother made the bunny an amazing hutch and run.

Two levels, hiding places to get out of the weather and space to run and dig

The bunny already made a couple holes to snuggle in.

Hopefully she won't decide to get out, but if she does, she is in the chicken field

Inside the lower part

The "floor" on the left covers the lower hiding place, the cover/roof comes down

 to give her an upper hiding place.

What is left of the thistle pile after winter broken them down some...

This is our two Australorps. Teriyaki is on the right and the new one, Stir-fry is on the left.

Chickens checking out the bunny in their field.

They spent time together last fall when the bunny escaped,

 and hid under some bushes with the chickens,

 so we think they are safe together...

We built a couple plant lights, a couple weeks ago and started our garden plants inside, and have plans to do more as the weeks head closer to frost free nights 

Some of the salad greens 

Tomato and cucumber starts...

A look back, where we were just a month ago, and for the past 4 months...

It was fun, but I am grateful for spring!!!!