Rain followed by Sun

Less than 2 weeks ago, the potato patch was spotty, at best.

Then it rained and rained. Finally, the sun shone. And, now you can practically watch it grow. Sadly, the weeds are growing just as fast.



Emma turned 3. She has discovered Barney so Gma got her 2 Barney videos. She also noticed, for the first time, that we have a Barney beach towel (was Dalton's ~ 12 years ago!). It's hers now. She's the most singy of all the kiddos, so we belt out the ole "I love you, You love me" song at the top of our lungs, and we don't care how much eye rolling occurs ~ secretly, we know they are singing too. :D

Inspired by Paul, I begged, pleaded, asked to have one so Jerry built this trellis system for the yellow squash, butternut squash and loofah. He used scrap lumber and also t-posts for anchors. I've got to tie the string on, and it's good to go. I have to decide if I'm going to want more for the cucumbers and tomatoes. How does one stake 75 tomato plants while on a limited budget?! Suggestions, please!



I can not stop taking pictures of the chix. They make it easy by hurtling towards me where ever I am. LOL That never gets old!!

Speaking of chicks, I have been letting the meat birds free range outside in the afternoons. What does this shot look like to you?! A daisy? Yeah, me too. One week to go til butcher date.

I should do updates to the challenges, but I don't feel like it. LOL So much is going on right now in the garden - doubling it has been a bit of a pain. Grass turf is a bugger to get thru. The ground underneath hasn't seen the light of day for 35+ years (back when it was farmland/tilled fields.) So, we are transplanting the turf, double digging, adding compost to holes, mulching between plants and looking forward to this fall when we can plow it all under.

• Blackberry and blueberry bushes arrived, yet to be planted.
• Lettuce is slow coming up, so are radishes.
• Peas are a total loss thanks to the chickens for scratching them up, twice.
• Rhubarb should be harvested.
• We got asparagus in small spurts, never enough all at once, but I planted 10 more.
• Planted another peach tree ~ Elberta.
• Jerry & I shared the first strawberry of the season.
  

Cole, Braden & Dalton

The boys had a Father/Son fishing trip this past weekend. While they were gone, the girls painted nails, went shopping for coloring books & stickers and had a sleep over in mom's bed.

We have an entire week of balmy, breezy spring-time-in-Kansas weather forecasted (which translates to highs of 80, lows of 60, winds 10-25 mph and low humidity.) Paradise on the prairie!

Tiptoe in my Tulips

Red Tulips now, Red Geraniums to come

My front porch has been converted into a seeding station. I found the mini-greenhouse at Lowe's and it works GREAT! Not all of these flats actually fit in there, some stay indoors at night. Even with yesterday's 50 degree, cloudy day, inside the greenhouse, it was a balmy 62. I do have to keep a close eye on the temp though and unzip it and roll up the one side just about the time the sun starts hitting it - it heats up quick!

Future red raspberry plants hanging out until the ground dries out enough to be planted. Buds are already appearing on them. Oddly, the nursery didn't send the blackberry plants at the same time, but the blueberries have shipped.

Last Friday, Emma and I went to the feed store to check for seed potatoes - we couldn't resist looking at the ducks and chickens. And, wouldn't you know, 10 Cornish Rocks ended up in our shopping cart. These are the trial run birds -the big order shows up next month. Trial run as in: we-don't-know-how-to-butcher-but-heck-we're-gonna-give-it-a-whirl.

I'm not grooving on their disposition - if you've ever seen the movie Wall-E, they remind me of those humans - completely uninterested in moving around on their own. They lay by the feed trough and eat, LAYING DOWN. This isn't okay with me! (their bellies are featherless and dirty, ugh!) I'm used to free-ranging, independent beauties that spend all their time foraging, dust bathing and dashing all around the yard. These birds? L A Z Y. I did read a good article about an alternative to Cornish Cross for meat birds. After the next batch comes and goes into the freezer, I think we'll give an alternative a try. Meanwhile, I put the birds in the chicken tractor on nice sunny days in hopes they move around a bit more.

Besides, sunshine is a great boost for whatever ails you, right?!

The free rangers chose one strawberry bed as their own personal dig zone. They ignored the fencing and my hollering and chasing. They waited until my back was turned, and IN they'd go. Now, I know the bed has juicy worms and other yummy bugs, but I'm trying to grow enough berries to actual put some up this year as in jam and P I E. So, I took a great tip from Amy over at Twelve Acres and I put poultry netting out. HaHaHa - foiled the birds. I let my netting float on the main part of the bed and just have it pinned on the corners. I ended up having to do this on all the beds - too tempting for the chooks. As much as I love them and their free ranging ways, I have to have food this year too. They decimated the broccoli and cabbage beds before I got the netting on. Sigh. As an aside, do they make a netting to keep kids out of strawberries?

Here are some of the lovely Ladies in action. Yes, I know they look innocent, but those feet can dig like you wouldn't believe! In the background, you can see the absolute BARE earth that is their run - they took it from luscious grass to bare earth in a mere 3 days. This bit in front of their run is on the thin side, but it's a good fescue blend and should bounce back with enough sunshine and rain.

Can't pick your neighbors

When we moved into this area several years ago, we noticed that the house to the east was nice, but junk everywhere in the backyard, including a lot of parked cars/lawn mowers/campers. Now, I'm not one to judge another's yard or lifestyle and hey, maybe they are into the three R's. (that'd be reduce, REUSE, recycle).

For the last 3+ years, we've done our best to be neighborly. We wave, we visit and we do our part to keep the neighborhood up. These neighbors don't wave back and in general, piss a lot of people off. I'm of the "live and let live" mindset, so I don't get my panties too twisted if they drive on the corner of my lawn repeatedly or they have inoperable cars on their driveway. As the HOA President, I field these type of complaints about them weekly, again, I assure people that life is too short to get high blood pressure over the bad apple of the neighborhood.

All of my laid back niceness has now been chucked out the window.

Their dog, a black lab, is an escape artist. She jumps the fence, walks thru open gates & sections of fence that were taken down. We have taken her back home numerous times. She barks, incessantly at nothing. I, too, have labs. They only bark if someone approaches our fence or if they see a dog on the road (lots of dog walkers here.)

I've put up with the escaping. Even have put her in our yard several times until they got home (didn't even get so much as a 'thanks for helping us out'). I've put up with the barking, even though it's outside my bedroom window day and night.

I love labradors. It's my favorite breed. A breed I understand and can deal with. The dog is bored. She isn't worked with. She isn't handled. She is smart and neglected.

Last Monday night, when she dug under the dividing fence and killed 3 of my free range chickens before we could stop her, that's when I got mad. Enough is enough. I held onto her collar until my husband could go and get the neighbor. All neighbor said was that he'd be out later to fix the fence. He didn't. Never offered to clean up the carnage. Never offered to pay for the replacement hens. No apologies. Nothing. He could hear my daughters and youngest son shrieking hysterically in the house. Never said a word.

A week has passed. Jerry decides to go over and talk to them again about the dog - barking, digging under the fence and the cost of the hens.

Mrs. Neighbor is the one who he spoke to. She is not a nice person. (I'm choosing my words carefully here.)

She said she doesn't like us having chickens (we have 10, totally within the legal limits and we don't have roosters. Hens are quiet, unless they are laying - then they tell the world. Our hen house is at the very back of our property. You have to be in the yard to even hear them as we all have 1 acre lots.) Her point is that people who have chickens are bad, poor and red neck. (Sorry, but when is poor or redneck a problem? Last time I checked, 21% of the world's population lives on less than $1.25 a day - that's poor.)

She said her dog is a lab, and labs attack birds, so too bad for us. I have labs too. 1 was a farm rescue (that caught his own food for months) and even he didn't attack them. The puppies are being trained, so far, so good. Our contention is that had our chickens flown into THEIR yard, yep, it was bound to happen and sucks to be us. But, her dog dug into OUR yard and that's where the problem lies.

She said it's ridiculous for anyone to pay to reimburse for the chickens and that $20 was asinine to pay. Uh, no, these were 6 month old, laying hens that were killed. 2 were leghorns (nearly daily layers) and the other was a Plymouth Rock. What if it had been a $1500 pure bred dog? Or doctor bills for an attacked child? Yeah, you're still responsible. You're the owner and what your animal does, has consequences.

He asked that they do something. There are options. Get rid of the dog. Train the dog. Install an electric fence or an underground fence so she stays away from our yard. Install a privacy fence she can't see thru - right now, it's chain link. Move. (yeah, I voted for that one.) Pay for us to move. (now we're into crazy-talk-territory.) Oh, and do something about the freakin non-stop barking. She said no to everything. Said her husband was sick and when he felt better, he may want to talk to us.

Jerry feels a fight is brewing. We've gotten a lot of advice - that we should've shot the dog (can't legally discharge a firearm inside city limits) and various ways of getting rid of their dog. Uh, NO, I'm an animal lover. It's not the dog's fault that it's doing this out of boredom and lack of interaction from it's owners.

I've reported it to the city - didn't get anywhere. Nobody showed up. Today, dog is indoors, but for how long?

Yesterday, it was nice - temps near 70 degrees. I let the chickens out to free range (what they're used to doing) only I had to stay outside with them the entire time as the dog was barking and digging like mad. Okay, I had some yard work and garden prep to do, but still, I can't be out there all the time. Because we raised them to be free rangers, they are used to it. They hang out in our backyard - it's almost half an acre. Plenty of room to run, scratch and do their chicken thing. Now, they can't free range without supervision. Correction, I don't supervise them, I'm supervising the dog. I tossed it's tennis ball multiple times and I talked to her. I petted her and worked on trying to get her to sit - kind of tough with a fence between us, but I do feel sorry for her. She doesn't deserve a life like that.

I guess there's no point to the post other than I'm frustrated. It's not the only thing going badly right now, but dammit, it's my yard and I ought to be able to enjoy it without fearing the neighbors domesticated "pet".

As a side note - if/when TSHTF, how much ya wanna bet they'll be lining up to buy my eggs?! Sheeple who buy into the "if it's not store bought, it's inferior" are never going to realize the incredible damage they do to themselves with all those store bought chemicals they ingest. I keep reading about how antibiotics are becoming less and less effective while virus are gaining strength. Did you know that 70% of the antibiotics despensed in this country are for animals?! That is shocking! I could go on and on about this as I'm very passionate about being mindful of what we consume and knowing what's in your food stream.

Enough for now. I've gotta go catch a wayward hen and put her back in the chicken run. Sorry sister, no free ranging for now. :(

It's Spring Feeber I tell Ya

Kids have the cutest ways of saying things.

Yesterday, the afternoon high hit around 60. Okay, YIPPEEEEEE. When I picked the kids up after school, they started saying how HOT they were and they were THIRSTY. Oh puhleaze!! I casually mentioned that I wasn't hot or thirsty but that the fine weather gave me spring fever. The kids busted out with Mom has spring feeber. (Are we the only family that breaks out into made up sing-songs?)

This morning, all Emma could say was "mom, you got a feeber?" Over and over again. LOL Yes, I do have feeber... warm weather in Feb does that to me. In honor of my feeber, I hung the first load of wash out on the line today. I planted peas. I started more plants from seed (up to 450 now). Pots of lettuce and spinach I was growing in the house got moved to the cold frame (where it's nice and toasty inside.) I washed the patio table off so we can have dinner outside tonight. And, I shut off the furnace. Let me see what else I can come up with before we plunge back into winter.

Emma has been wanting to gather eggs. I put a lawn chair out for her to climb up and get to work. She will probably insist she is the new egg gatherer. There's always competition from everyone to see who can get to the coop first after school and retrieve the eggs. Funny, but when we cleaned the coop out, no one was running to help.

Speaking of coop clean outs, I snagged 10 bags of leaves off Craigslist. I'm experimenting with leaves as bedding in the coop. The hay just mats down really badly, forms a carpet like density which leaves all the dropping on top of it. I wanted something a little more compost ready than that. We'll see how the leaves do.

Nesting Boxes Done

After several days of head scratching, Jerry figured out how to build and attach the nesting box to the coop. YEAH!! I'm so excited! The chickens figured out pretty quickly what they were for and we had our first 3 egg day. Having the box outside the coop makes for easy egg collecting and cleaner shoes. All that's left is the siding and a paint job, and our 6 month project will be completed.

Here are two of the lovely ladies, Pot Pie and Chipmunk. They are on the outside of the chicken run looking into it. I do think the phrase "bird brain" is right on the money. Sometimes, it takes them four or five tries to figure out how to get back inside the run - and it's a 6' opening.

Well, I never said the bird feeder and bird bath were off limits, did I?

This is our original chicken tractor. Made out of wood from pallets and a few repurposed 2x4s. It's covered in plastic chicken fencing (NOT a good idea - it breaks easily). It does have a door on one end. We put the flock in here during the day, covered with the tarp as the direct sun was pretty hot. Now that we have the coop & run, this has been delegated to the rabbits and guinea pig to hang out in. It's light weight and easy to move. It was designed to fit over a raised bed but actually stays on the yard. We are going to build an enclosure on one end so that the rabbit can have permanent residence in it. Or, we might use it to raise a small flock of meat birds. Hmmm, we'll see.

The Eggs Have Arrived!!

Last Thursday night, I was dropping D off at a friend's house when I got a text from Jerry saying he had found something in the chicken coop, and could I guess what it was.

I had just been saying how I hoped a snake or rat or other varmit wouldn't get in there (we leave it open during the day) so I didn't even consider it would be an egg.

The text came back in all caps "CONGRATS U HAVE EGG". I was so excited I started jumping up and down and laughing. Now, if you have raised chicks from a day old, only to watch them eat tons of chick food and wait, day after day to get that first egg, you totally know the feeling I had. It was so exciting!

We have 10 hens, most of which should lay brown eggs. But it was a white egg. So, I suspected it was the Leghorns. On Friday, it was warm, sunny and just a wonderful day. D and I were outside watching the chix when one of them started making quite a racket in the coop. We looked and sure enough, she was getting ready to lay. So, I actually saw her lay egg #2. Saturday, no egg, but Sunday, another egg. So, we are up to 3 eggs. I thought it was too early for them to be laying, they're only 17.5 weeks old, but hey, I think I have an overachiever in the bunch. And, it was the the smallest chicken in the flock that laid first.

After she laid on Friday, I watched both roos go into the nest and mimic her... which was pretty funny. None of the other hens seemed interested at all.

Now, if Jerry would just get the nesting boxes done, they would have a proper place to lay.

R.I.P. Lucy

Last week, we had snow. And, temps that were just short of bone chilling. I decided to keep the chickens in the coop - not that they would have gone out anyway!

Jerry had to replace the heat lamp bulb and he made sure to do a head count before shutting them in on Monday night. Tuesday they stayed inside.

Wednesday morning, Cole comes shrieking in the house while I was in the shower saying that Lucy was under the coop (it's built 2' off the ground - for shade in the summer time.) I told him to grab a broom handle and see if he could scoot her out. A few minutes later, he's back screaming and crying hysterically.

I tell him to come into the bathroom because I can't understand him thru the door. He rushes in, holding Lucy. She has congealed blood all down the side of her head and body. She is blinking but it didn't look good.

I told him to put her in his bath tub because it has glass doors we can shut. I was afraid the dogs or cats would try to get at her.

At this point, I'm freaking out. I don't do well at the sight of blood. At. All. In case of emergency, I am NOT the one to call. I witnessed violence in my family as a tiny child and even though the adults say it was nothing, it really made a horrible impression on me. To this day, I feel very helpless and scared at the sight of blood. Even minor injuries flood me with overwhelming emotions.

I did marry someone who is calm, rational and rock steady thru any bloody crisis. So, I called him (he goes to work early). And, I called and called and called. All the while just freaking out. I mean, she was a white Leghorn and now is obviously in major distress, because you couldn't see any white - only red.

He finally calls me back and I'm beyond control. All he understood was "blood" and "get home NOW". So he does. Meanwhile, Cole is unconsolable. I ask him gently if he knew what happended. If he knew how Lucy got out. Our coop is like fort knox - you just can't get out. A human would have to open the door. He said that he opened the door for just a minute then shut it again. He didn't see her come out. (It was pitch black and he doesn't carry a flashlight.)

His eyes and sobbing tell me that he feels very responsible.

Jerry gets home and checks on Lucy. He says it doesn't look good. He asks the neighbor to come take a look. The neighbor, in my opinon, is more of a rancher than farmer. I don't think he ever had chickens, but he is older and wiser and we value his opinion.

He says it doesn't look good.

By the scene in the coop, it looks like Lucy got trapped outside in the dark and snow. She tried to get out of the run thru the lattice holes. Somehow, she tore her comb in the process. She lost a lot of blood and was barely breathing. Her comb was almost 100% torn off.

Jerry and neighbor decide it best to end the suffering.

I cried like a baby for my chicken. All my life, I've always wanted chickens. I've always lived in a city environment (but longing for the country). City people just don't understand having a chicken for a pet. I've gotten a lot of grief over the years for this little dream, but finally, this year, for my birthday, I bought myself something that has just meant so much to me. I can't even put into words how much healing took place in the last 4 months that I've spent with these silly birds. I never do anything for myself and this was a huge step in the right direction. I, too, suffer from depression. There are times when it comes up on me with a vengenace and this fall it returned, deeper and blacker than anything I've ever experienced before. Yet, I could get up, go out and sit in the yard on a sunny day and just watch the chickens be chickens. And, now Lucy is gone. Yes, she was a rooster and I knew I'd have to give her away, so I was prepared for the letting go... just not this way.

Chix On Thanksgiving

Okay, first of all, I'm not the world's steadiest camera gal... so apologies for that. And, when my son dubbed over the video with my life's theme song, you don't get to hear me begging the chickens to come out from under the coop!! Only Lucy/Larry ventured out ~ until about the 2:10 ish point in the video. If you can stand to watch it that long, you will see the flock on the run... but honestly, this post is all about the song!! It's called "Simple Ways" and it's by a good friend's son, Matt. He goes by the name Human and he's with the Human Revolution. I enjoy his music, but for some reason, this is the song that says it all for me!!

Oh, and the girls had fresh cranberries, cabbage & spinach for Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Confetti Flocks

Today, J finished putting the shingles on the coop. YEAH!! While he was banging away, I let the chicks run around outside the coop. This is what a confetti flock looks like... That's farmer Cole in the background. Or Chick Wrangler.

To the left in the photo is the horse fencing. We are incredibly lucky that our backyard neighbors are 4 horses, on 7 acres. So, we get a sense of wide open space and all the horse love we want without the work. *grin* And, whenever the girls ask for ponies, we just point over the fence and say, "There ya go!"

My Favorite Red Head ~ Lucy

When we ordered our chickens from My Pet Chicken, I couldn't really decide what kind to get. I'd promised the youngest son that we were only going to get hens ~ egg consumption is okay with him, but NOT eating pets. His therory is that if you name it, you can't eat it.

After much debate, we settled on a confetti flock of White Leghorn, Buff Orpingtons, Easter Eggers, Barred Plymouth Rocks and New Hampshire Reds.

When they arrived, I was beside myself ~ giddy beyond belief. The were so sweet, fuzzy and just C*U*T*E. I was in love, with all of them. But something funny happened, once they started growing, one in particular just endeared herself to me. She was sassy, bossy and noisy. She was the biggest and the first to get her comb ~ which came in bright red... hence her name.... Lucy. She is still the biggest, sassiest and one with the most personality... but now we wonder, is our Lucy really a Larry? And, if she is a he, what the heck are we gonna do? Roosters are NOT allowed within the city limits... and apparently, if we try to eat him, our youngest son is going to run away and take Lucy/Larry with him. *Sigh* Anybody know for sure if this is a boy or girl? She/he is about 2 months old now.