Tuesday motivation

I can't believe its independence day this weekend! My favorite! We're going to have some early fire works, a cook out, root beer floats and popsciles. Sounds good to me! It's only going to be 88 degrees...

It was been hot all week with no end or rain in sight. I have no motivation to get anything done this week. I have phone calls to make, things to mail, nothing I feel like doing. We're getting close to our first anniversary on the farm, that means it's time to review and reasses our needs, policies, goals and future plans. Being a grown up isn't all the fun sometimes.

I did a grand total of zero rows of knitting this week. And will probably get a total of zero done this week. Oh well. It can be a write off and thats ok!

What are you plans for the long weekend?

Photo Friday

Every time our field is cut, the eagles come out for an easy meal of (I assume) field mice. Next time I will be prepared, this is the best shot (zoom in) of a pair. There is a nest at the end of my property that has at least a nesting pair and I'm guessing this juvenile.

This weekend is going to be hot! The long range forecast is hot. The coolest will be in the mid 80s. We have no A/C, there will be lots of playing in the hose and in the dark. The kids don't seem to mind, I don't do too well with dehydration.

This weekend I don't think we have any projects planned! My hands are getting itchy to do some painting though. I'm dying to paint Nature Baby's room but that requires an extra set of hands to watch the kids. We have a weird hall/closet area that needs a freshing but

The Chickens are 16 weeks!

A lot has happened in the last 2 weeks. The Girls have been busy. Yes, I know there are two boys in the group. I still called the flock 'The Girls'.  

The berry field next to us has decided to use sound machines to keep birds from eating their berries. It started as a combination of alien abductions and birds dying. Well, that was just great for 17 hours a day. A week later they added more dying birds and raptor calls. There is now noise... constantly for 17 hours a day.  I get it, birds eat 30% of your crops. Do what you've gotta do, but do it properly. Playing it constantly for 17 hours a day isn't doing anything. Only using sounds without bird netting, scare crows and scare tape doesn't work. The chickens got over the noise in about 2 days, so did the starlings and crows that I watch FLOCK to the berries everyday. That's the down side to rural living, we are zoned for agriculture and "farm noise" is exempt from noise laws. 

We took down their temporary fence, now they have free reign. There is about an acre for them to explore and they, of course, choose the one place I don't want them. They spend a lot of time on the driveway near the barn, and near the house. There is poop everywhere. EVERY WHERE! I put up a bit of chicken fence to keep them from roaming to the neighbors yards, they don't care. 

Fence? What fence? You can't contain us!

One of the Rhode Island Reds is a tiny one. She is about 2/3rds the size of the other RIR girls. I suspect that she is Droopy but I can't tell anymore. I wonder if she'll lay teeny-tiny jellybean eggs. We'll see, hopefully these girls start pulling their weight soon. 

The ducks have decided that they are not runners. They are flyers. They fly from the coop to their chosen foraging spot. Fine by me! They fly about 50 feet, 5 or 6 feet high. I had a dream they flew to the river to be free! We'll see if that happens.

Ragnar has been crowing. Full on Cock-a-doodle-doo-ing. He's got the whole weird stance and everything. He has yet to do the "danger is near" cries. Those will come. He needs to protect his ladies. If I'm too slow in the morning to let them out, he lets me know. 

Faux Roo is an actual Roo. He some how hurt his leg and has been hobbling around a bit. I haven't been able to catch him to inspect without him running away. I don't want him running, I'll have to bribe him with treats and take a good look. I hope it isn't anything serious and he just fell off the roost. He isn't usually standing like that.

We lost one of our Buff Orpingtons, we suspect it was an eagle. All that was left was two piles of feathers right by the field. We've been on high alert since. We're thinking about fencing them in, but thats not really what we want. We're looking at different methods of keep them out of the grasp of predators. The eagles have been out in force. I suspect it has been teach the young

Crazy Legs is our remaining Buff Orpington, her legs stay straight every time I pick her up.

Nancy Drew has lost her tail feathers. A few jerks ducks pulled them out. Those ducks... She's embarrassed.

In the last few days we've seen coyotes in the day time, and they are starting to get closer to the house and The Girls. A few evenings ago, a coyote was hopping around in the field have some mice tapas, and (I suspect) heard or saw the chickens. He scampered closer and closer and Scribs went out to protect The Girls. The coyote skulked around and watched the girls. Scribs skulked around and watched the coyote. The coyote either lost interest or smelled Scribs and lost interest. The kids were still awake, that means it was before 8 p.m. the kids were up. We've been on high alert since, especially since it's been around in the day time, when the kids are out. 

It was back this morning around noon while I was out with Nature Baby. It was in the field, but I wasn't willing to let it get any closer. We watched with binoculars and waited. Lucky for him, he went into the bushes. If he comes after The Girls we will take action. 

You can see Faux-Roo is getting his iridescent tail feathers and he's MUCH bigger than the girls. 

...I've rewritten this 3 times, every time Nature Baby some how erases it. First time was much wittier, I swear! I'm going to do the chicken updates every other week. At this point, until they start laying, there isn't too much going on. I have a ton going on, but they're just kind of doing their own thing. 

Monday Motivation

Holy! A bit of radio silence on my part. We had a busy, and a bit difficult week. The berry field next to us started with their bird-scaring sound machine. It sounds like a combination of crows being murdered and alien abductions. It's LOUD and plays every 30 seconds for 17 hours a day. It's a bit much.Oh, and guess what! It doesn't work. The birds are sitting the fields not moving and I assume chowing-down on delicious berries! Needless to say I've been a bit frazzled with the noise torture.  I'm hoping to be a bit more on top of things this week! There will be a chicken update on Friday. Scout's honor! (I'm not a scout of any kind, does that matter?)


This week, hopefully I'll be able to get some knitting done! I'm this close to finishing one baby knit, but by the time the kids are asleep I'm so tired that following the pattern seems impossible.

June garden update

Things are moving along in our little garden! We have tomatoes on the plants, spinach ready to eat, even some little beans and peas! I've thinned out my corn, moved some zucchinis and tried again for eggplants. One tiny purple pepper is clinging to life! The brussel sprouts are still going strong and the carrots are getting nice big green tops.

The weed situation between the rows is getting out of hand. I pull 1 and 30 more pop up. I don't have the time to get it all done. What's my solution? Mulch. Specifically, grass clippings. I've got mountains of them. Maybe it'll help, maybe not. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work and I've added a ton of organic materials.

The slugs are under control. Thank you to everyone that suggested Sluggo.  That stuff is magical! And now there's a new enemy - Aphids. Those little gross jerks are destroying my cauliflower. I didn't notice (or think to look) until one plant was looking sickly. I mean it was looking bad! I thought it needed more water, upon closer inspection it was over run with aphids. Out comes the diatomaceous earth again and we'll see what happens. I've been using Neem oil too. The Neem oil has been working but it's a battle! The plants are starting to close up, I think that means we're growing heads. I hope so!

I'm not going to lie, the whole thing is starting to seem overwhelming and starting to look hopeless! Pity party for one, right here! I keep telling myself it's my first garden, there's going to be some bumps in the road. It's disappointing when all your hard work seems to be for nothing. Most of the peppers have died, I've lost 2 cauliflower plants so far, 2 corns that were doing well aren't, the eggplant won't germinate (I've planted a dozen seeds. I'm guessing I got a bad bunch), microgreens more like invisible greens. I only have 1 broccoli left and most of the squash aren't doing anything. I'm starting to think it's me, too much water, not enough? who knows.

My last little broccoli still hanging in there.

These two were planted at the same time. What gives?

We have lots of tomatoes of every variety!

 Every time I start weeding the carrots I get scared that I'll pull the carrots instead.

My one enormous zucchini and pumpkins.

Brussel Spouts seem to be doing well, no aphids or slugs. I'm sure theres something just waiting to jump out at me. 

The peas and beans have been struggling. I have more that have just sprouted. 

We've been enjoying spinach almost everyday.

What do you think? Any advice? How's your growing season going?

Monday Motivation

How was your weekend? We were busy as usual! We had a lot of do and managed to accomplish most of it. The lawn is cut, shelves are built, barn and chicken coop are clean, some weeds have been weeded and for one brief, glorious moment the laundry was all washed, folded and put away.

This week Scribs is away and I have this silly idea that I'm going to get a million things done. The house will be spotless, the garden will be immaculate (HA!), everything on the to-do list will be done. Let's be real, that's not going to happen. It's going to be hot and I'm not getting anything done. 

I would like to hang some new curtains, and there is some wasps that need tending to (murdered). Thats about it. 

What are your goals for the week?

14 week old chickens. These girls aren't peepers anymore!

The girls were eager to get out this morning. They didn't even wait for me to fill the tub and waterers.

Not too much new to report. Ragnar is working on crowing, one of the ducks insists on flying out of the coop and into the water, scaring the other duck whom then runs through the fence. Nancy Drew gets a little obstinate at bed time. I put her in the coop, grab another chicken and she's back out again. Silly chicken.

The elusive Cuckoo Chanel has made an appearance outside a few times a day for the last 2 days. She finally gets it! 

A neighbors dog was standing watch the girls the other day. If it's from the house I think it's from then they have free-range chickens (and dogs. Don't get me started on that one!). I'm not overly worried about it. I do need to go over there and have a neighborly chat about keeping their animals and themselves off my property.

On to the pictures!

These girls are becoming more and more chicken like. Poor Peepers doesn't come out much and when she does gets chased around by Nancy Drew. Maybe once they have more room they'll be better. They are fine while in the coop. I can't wait for these girls to start laying.