Grass that got to 2′-3′ tall since our push mower got buried somewhere behind 2 tons of books and furniture because of the remodel.
One new hand scythe. Have a smaller one with a serrated edge, but it’s also buried. The bigger blade and the smooth edge are actually way better for this job. Will be easier to sharpen later, too.
Hey, look. Fava beans.
This post is picture heavy, but I think it’s worth it.
Last week, the buff orpington and the araucana (easter egger) started running up to me and flattening out like so:
While they’re squatting in this position, they let me scratch their backs and ruffle their feathers pretty much however I want. It’s fun (they’re super soft), and it’s also a sign that they’re ready to start laying eggs soon.
Sure enough, was treated to this sight last Friday! (courtesy of the buff – not pictured)
It’s tiny, but nicely shaped.
We decided to hard boil it. Fresh eggs are always really hard to peel. Delicious…
The buff gave us another egg on Sunday.
Fried over-medium this time with some sungold tomatoes from the garden. Mmm…
Monday, the araucana gave us her first egg! She decided to lay it in a pile of poop… Need to build them a nest box soon.
The entirety of our berry harvest. This is sadly the best in the 3 years we’ve been growing them. I fertilized the plants this year.
Harvest of things planted this spring (beets, potatoes) and last fall (garlic):
This is the first time I’ve grown potatoes. It’s like digging for treasure! I’m a little disappointed that each plant only made 5 potatoes. But if you think about it in terms of weight (~1.25 lbs), I probably got 10 times the investment of the original potatoes planted. I should plant more of everything.
We also let the chickens run around outside and Gizmo got to meet them in person. Until he started trying to eat their poop. It was a good weekend.
Just in time for the summer heat – a new chicken waterer! Finally out of the crazy development phase of work so I had time to get this project whipped out.
Ingredients:
The kimchee jar holds more water and has squarer dimensions than the mason jar waterer we have now. Hopefully the chickens won’t be able to tip it over as often when they decide to stand on it. I tried super glue the first time around. Didn’t work. The bottle caps popped right off of the lid after the glue dried.
I put the caps on the outer rim to make it as stable as possible.
More holes means the dish fills up faster which I thought would be nice. It turns out that the fast fill isn’t worth it because it means that a ton spills out when you flip it over. If I had to make another one of these, I’d drill just one hole in the center
In the chicken run and next to the original waterer for comparison.
Did you know peas are ~$5-7/pound at the farmers market? I’ve never grown them before and wanted to try.
Because of our Japan stay, I planted all the winter legumes late this past year, so not everything grew quite right. What that means is that instead of eating bowls of peas, I’ve just been picking them whenever the pods are full and snacking right away.
This the first time I’ve eaten them fresh-picked. They don’t have a raw taste at all and are unexpectedly sweet.
Out in the enclosed run:
In the coop, they haven’t figured out what the roost is for yet:
Some specs:
- 4′x4′ coop, 12′x4′ enclosed run, 5′-6′ high
- 1/2″x1/2″ hardware cloth over all of it, including 10″ into the ground (couldn’t find 1″x2″)
- roost inside
- removable pop door with ramp
- double front doors for easy access, acrylic windows to peep in
- board inside the doors for deep piling litter
- person sized door to get inside run
Later on, we’ll add a nest box and figure out a more permanent food and water feeder.
The chickens are now beginning their 8th week of life. They seem to really like running around in the run and pecking at the ground.
We’re either spending our time on Steve’s iPad app or else we’re working on the chicken coop.
Bought all the coop materials 2 weekends ago, then Steve has been measuring, staining, and cutting for the past 2 weeks. I helped once or twice.
So did Gizmo:
This weekend, the plan is to finish putting everything together.
They are starting their 5th week of life. I fed them their first bug today from the compost pile. I picked a pillbug, because last week, they were a bit afraid of the beetle I put in there.
They are loud and the litter gets stinky. They also freak out and run into the corner whenever we reach in for them. I am ready for them to go outside.
They can go out @ 6-8 weeks when all the feathers grow in, so Steve is planning a coop and run. There are a bunch of examples at the backyard chickens website, and we like the features of this, this, and this one.
Steve’s coop-planning sketches
My abandoned attempt at visualizing in Sketchup
Radishes are supposed to be the seeds you let kids plant, because they grow so quickly and it is so rewarding to harvest.
Here is the one and only radish that was ready for eating, from a February planting. I turned it over in the photo so that you can’t see that bugs had eaten half of it. It tasted like a radish.
I also made a little test cage-thing out of chicken wire, right now over the radishes and non-sprouted carrot seeds. It to help with the squirrels and to keep Gizmo from trampling over them in his Shiba-500 sprints around the yard.
It seems to work, and it’s really just a big rectangle with the corners folded over. I’ll make a bunch more for all the other plants. 30′ of 4′ high wire will make about 6 boxes.
Lastly, one of the potatoes has sent up leaves. Yay!
I had planned out all sorts of things to plant each month to really get a bunch of veggies this year. In the beginning of February, I sowed chard, 2 potatoes, chatenay carrots (even pre-soaked the seeds), and lettuce. NOTHING has sprouted. Evidently, I am really bad at growing things from seed.
I figured maybe birds ate the lettuce, so I tried starting some inside last week. Only 4 sprouted out of the probably 24 I sowed, and 3 of them have wilted. :(
On the other hand, the 3-year-old watermelon seed sprouted (moon and stars, 1/8 germination) and so did the 3-year-old tomatoes (cherokee purple, yellow brandywine, 1/2 germination).
Up for March is turnip, beets, basil, and more lettuce.
I’m debating whether to try re-planting the chard and potatoes and wondering if I should give up and go buy lettuce seedlings.