Egg Surprise

I had forgotten to check for eggs today, so Chris went out just now to get them for me. Wouldn't you know, he brought in five and a half eggs?

Looks like one of the pullets we hatched out this year has started laying.

Bring it on?

Yesterday was non-stop. As soon as I woke up, I went outside, moved and fed the chickens, put together the new hose reel I bought with birthday money, then started watering. I normally don't need to water anything around here until July, but it's been so hot and dry that everything would be dead if I didn't. I am thankful I didn't plant more fruit trees like I wanted. Since I don't have enough hose to reach everything, I have five-gallon buckets with a little holed drilled in their bottoms to water the trees. I fill these from another bucket, and while the buckets are watering one tree, I water another with the hose set on a trickle. Quite the routine.

As I was performing this little watering dance, I was thinking about all the projects on my list: finish building the clothesline poles, pick green beans, finish building the chicken plucker, build a bat house with Joe, (the list doesn't really end)... I reveled for a minute and thanked God for what my life had become, then thought, "I'll be really mad if the world ends in my lifetime. I'm having too much fun." Then the religious angel on my shoulder said, "Shame on you! Are you saying you'd rather be here than in heaven worshipping God?" I flicked him off my shoulder and decided that as long as I could at least garden in heaven, I wouldn't complain too much, I suppose.

Of course, that got me thinking some more. About how life isn't much fun if we don't have a challenge to overcome. I thought of kids and how most of the joy of growing up is all about conquering challenges: learning to roll over, learning to walk, pour your own milk, do a head stand, help bake a cake...

Maybe I'm just not enlightened enough to understand, but an afterlife with no challenges, no opportunity to grow, sounds dull.

This morning, after a late-night failed attempt at watering the garden (something in the well, the pump, pressure tank, and sprinkler system always seems to go awry), I crawled out of bed and tried to open my eyes. I wasn't feeling up for as much of a challenge today. Ha.

Siding: Complete

Saturday morning, with the sun beating down upon us, we tackled the rest of the siding. I took this picture mid morning after we had the siding up in between the windows.

 By Sunday afternoon, the siding was finished and Chris had caulked everything and was painting. I have discovered that I am not fond of caulking or painting. I can't say what it is, but I am happy to leave that to Chris and don't feel an ounce of guilt, either. I figure if he has left me with the task of cleaning toilets, I can abandon him when the paint brushes come out.

Originally, we thought that a ridge vent would be adequate ventilation, but the smothering heat we felt every time we went up the stairs made it obvious the roofing system's ridge vents were a joke. After Chris cut out some of the sheathing to open the gable up for a vent, he could feel the heat pour out. Now we just need to build some gable vents.

New Swing

Funny Farm Do-Overs

We are in year two here, and I have a laundry list of things I would like to do a bit differently or wish I could do differently.

First on my list is the chicken coop. A minor issue is that I wish the coop had an overhang on the front. There is no real reason for this other than I think it would have looked more aesthetically pleasing. I had the overhang in my head, but didn't have a plan on how to build one, so it got left off. Second, I am not quite happy with the roost. The lower roosts are too close so that any birds that get stuck below usually end up getting crapped on during the night. Third, nesting boxes that are accessible from the outside would have been nice. And finally, the roof...

The roof is hardly the lush coop top I envisioned. The biggest problem is probably that I didn't have a good watering system in place... Perhaps a soaker hose with an extension hanging down so that I could more easily water would have not have resulted in the pathetic plant life that is currently struggling to survive up there. Another problem was that the soil we put up there could hardly be called soil. It was just the cheapest bagged stuff we could find, and I'm not too sure what sort of plant life can really survive in it. On top of all that, I have erosion problems. When it does rain or is watered, the soil that isn't held in place by a root system (which happens to be most of it) is carried off by the water so that in places it has completely worn away.

To address the issue of erosion, I am thinking about installing several strip of wood (or something) across the top to help check the erosion. Then I need to get a better mix of actual soil up there, install the soaker hose, and plant some annuals to help stabilize the soil while the perennial plants get better established.

Next on my list: the chickens. I love having a handful of chickens roaming the farm. I don't love having 20 or 30 chickens crowding me every time I walk outside. If I want to be in the business of selling some eggs and raising our own meat birds, I have to figure out something that will still work and make me happier. Does it entail building bigger, portable chicken tractors that would require daily moving? Or maybe a coop located in the center of different chicken yards I can rotate them through so they can always have good pasture? The first idea requires a bit more daily work, the second requires a lot of space dedicated to the chickens, and both would require some money to change the way I'm doing things. Maybe there are other ideas out there, and if any one has one, please let me know. How about chickens on picket lines? That would be funny. And disastrous.

There's more on my laundry list, but this is enough to think about for now.

Morning Harvest

The beet harvest was long overdue, and the potatoes were on their way out, so, this morning, Finley and I went to the garden to reap what I had sown. I only kept a handful of beets as most of them were too large. We ended up with a substantial sack of potatoes, and I am trying to figure out where to store them. As we don't have a root cellar or cool basement, my options are 1. the pump house (although I'm not sure how cool it stays in there) or 2. deep down in the neighbor's sink hole (would critters get to them?).

 The green beans took me by surprise. I thought I had checked to see if I had any a day or two ago and didn't see any, but obviously, I wasn't looking hard enough. Sneaky ones, those beans are. As we were picking beans, Finley kept telling me we needed to sell them at a farmer's market because we had too many and could make money off them. I told her that we could can them, and that would save us money on the grocery bill, but she wasn't going for it. Obviously, she's not very excited about eating the veggies we are growing.

The weird award of the day goes to this potato.

The Culprit

Yesterday, Finley told me she thought something had killed one our black hens. Black feathers were all over the coop. I went to investigate, and sure enough, just outside the chicken run lay the body of one of my good layers. When I went to pitch her torn-up carcass into the woods, I noticed a couple piles of raccoon scat.

So, last night, I decided to lock all the birds up tight, and after suckering them all into the chicken run with some scratch, determined that three birds in all were missing. I set up a trap with an egg in it just outside the little door the varmint would have used to get into the coop and went to bed.

At 5 a.m., my eyes popped open, and I went to let the birds out and check the trap:

I moved it to a shady spot in the stable to await its fate.

And just for fun, here is a shot of Max after he tore across the yard in early-morning mania and scaled a post by the stable. This is why people should not bother firemen with silly requests to rescue cats.

 

Anti-Pepperoni Pizza

When I discovered we were out of pepperoni, I decided that gave me the right to top the pizza the way I wanted instead of the way I normally feel obligated to top it because of Chris.

So... Summer squash, broccoli, and onion (all from the garden), lightly sauteed in olive oil, garlic salt, and oregano, chopped spinach, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese... Yum.

Building the Chicken Plucker, Part 1

I know. I should have started this as soon as the plucker fingers came in the mail, but I'm not feeling like there is a rush to finish this. The birds I confined to the cage I built don't seem to be growing any faster with the free choice grain than the ranging chickens. I was trying to avoid feeding them the grower crumble they sell at the store in an attempt to keep them as 'natural' as possible, but I don't know...

Anyway, even if these chickens are old and tough by the time they are big enough to warrant the hassle of butchering, we can slow cook or can them in order to make them edible. Or so I hear.

Today was a bit drizzly, so I figured this was a good day to get started. I pulled our old rain barrel from behind the shop, and stared at it for a while, wondering if I could pry the lid off, or if I just needed to cut it off.

 I finally realized there was no way I could get the top off, so I went about figuring out how to cut it up. First problem was to draw a straight line around the barrell. A speed square gave me something I could slide along the underside of the lid, and a notch to hold my Sharpie.

 I also traced a circle on the bottom to cut out the plastic circle I will need to build the feather plate, and another line around the outside to cut off the rest of the bottom. I decided a sawzall would be too crazy to try to cut with, so I used a jigsaw. And I wore safety glasses. Last time I cut a hole in this barrell, a little piece of plastic flew into my eye.

I used a jump rope to figure out the circumference of the barrell, and later, when the kids are in bed, I will plot out where I need to drill all the holes for the plucker fingers.

Backyard Camping, Take 1

I've been promising the kids that we would go camping in the yard for about a year, now. But every time, something (usually some one getting sick) has come up to postpone the event. This weekend seemed promising. The weather looked clear... no rain until Monday. Saturday, we set up the tent, and since I wanted a good day for it to air out, set the actual camp out for Sunday night.

 Sunday, the forecast started showing a chance for thunderstorms overnight, but the the percentages were low, so I thought we'd risk it. Sunday evening, just as I was getting ready for the marshmallow roast, the weather radio announced a tornado watch for the area. We went ahead with the roast.

As the sun set, the lightning bugs came out. I sat on the porch watching the bats flit through the air and listened to the kids' excited voices back at the campsite as they tried to catch the bugs.
About 8 o'clock, we started hearing the rumblings of thunder, and by 8:30, all kids and bedding were inside.

Maybe next time we'll make it through the night.