HEat

Well with all this heat it has been hard to garden. We harvested a lot of vegetables and fruit this morning before it got too hot. The chickens have been panting these past few days. We have fans going along with ice packs in their nesting boxes. We have been giving them frozen fruit to keep them cool. I will post a picture of our bounty soon. I thought I had just better write something since it has been so long. Coming soon a post and pictures from the big sale.

Growing

Oh my goodness it has been too long since I have written.  Everything is growing, the garden and the chickens.  Those weee little chicks are not so weee little any more.  They are growing fast and just look like miniature versions of our big girls now.  The Front Yard Farm is filling in fast.  We have been eating lettuce, turnips and strawberries.   The blueberries are coming along as well as everything else.  The Fuschias are blooming and our hummingbirds are back.  It feels good.  It is time for me to get out and weed again.  I haven't cared as much this year and I am just enjoying seeing everything grow.  I have planted some eggplants this year.  That is a first for me.  I will let you know how that goes.  I lost the asparagus.  Oh well I guess next year I will try again and wait 3 years.  I will post some pix soon.  Hope everyone is enjoying gardening.  Come and see me at the Urban Farm Store.  

My love affair with chickens

It can start out slowly, this love. It is a love like no other. An obsession perhaps. Yes, its my chickens. I heard someone say once that having chickens is like collecting Hummel figurines. Once you have a few you want to add one more here and one more there. Oh I need the little one sitting on the toad stool or I need the one holding the flower basket. I don't really know what all the figurines look like. I was never collected them. Oh but how I can imagine. I started out with a Buff Orpington, a Gold Laced Wyandotte, and a Production Red, so I think. Once we lost the Orpington and rehomed the Red I couldn't have my Wyandotte, Merdle all alone. This is where it has begun. So I went to the Urban Farm Store, where I work, and I collected myself a Speckled Sussex, an Orpington and a Brahma. Well you know the tail of the Sussex, remember Opal or shall we call him Opus. He now has a good home. Well we still have the little Orpington and the Brahma. We also now have an Americauna named Xanadoo. She was adopted by the woman that compared chickens to Hummel figurines. She was given to her because she has a cross beak. Well thankfully we now have this delightful chicken. She is quiet and tame and so good natured. She lays blue eggs. We have gotten one from her everyday she has been here. So here is where the collecting comes in. The woman we got Xanadoo from started with three chickens. She now has some odd hundred and seventy five from what I could tell. She had big chickens, small chickens, baby chickens, pullets and everything in between. Well we couldn't contain ourselves we wanted one of each. A Jersey Giant, a Cochin, a Sebright, a Dorking. Oh I could go on. Some people collect figurines. Not this girl. It is chickens all the way for me. Oh yes and my fuschias.

Out with the Rooster in with the New

Well our lovely Opal turned out to be an Opus. Yup, she was a he, a rooster. We found him a good home where we were promised he'd be spoiled rotten. Sounds like they wanted to make him a daddy. I explained to them that he watched TV with us every night and loved to have his belly rubbed. So today we picked up a lovely Americauna. Her name is Xanadoo. She has a little crossed beak but nothing too bad. She is about a year and lays green eggs. I will post pics soon. She is very snuggly and just what we needed for our Merdle girl (we hope) The will be together tonight in the coop. Lets cross our fingers.

Chick Days

Well on a very sad note we recently lost our big girl Rambo. She was a lovely Buff Orpington Hen. She layed many eggs for us and gave us lots of love and laughs. She was a big fluff ball of love with lots of personality and little fear. We truly miss her. She was part of the family and will never be forgotten. We had a funeral for her last week. She is buried under a Hydrangea in the back yard behind the chicken run.
As one life ends another begins though. We could not leave our last chicken standing, Merdle, alone. We now have an array of chickens. We have two new chicks. A Light Brahma, Bianca and a Buff Orpington, Rocky (sticky with the Sly Stalone theme). We also have a 8 week old pullet named Opal. She is a Cuckoo Maran. She is a darling loving bird. The little chicks crawl under her wings as if she is there mother. Bianca chirps and chirps if Opal is out of her site. Rocky seems bold and curious like Rambo was. Opal is very happy falling asleep on our laps as we watch tv. She'll even fall asleep on her back if we flip her over to rub her belly. She was a true score. In the pictures the fluffy footed chick is Bianca. Enjoy.

First Consult

Sunday I had my first consult with my friend Danielle about growing vegetables.  After sitting down and talking for awhile about everything she was interested in we decided to start small.  Danielle is in a bit of limbo with her house.  They are deciding whether or not to rent out their house and move to some bigger land.  She'd like to start growing vegetables but doesn't want to go to all the work to leave it right in the middle of the season.  We decided it was best to do some container gardening so she could take them with her.  We chose some veggies and herbs for her to grow that would be easy and that she enjoyed eating.  This garden is for her.  We decided tomatoes, basil, chives and cilantro would be good.  We may decide to grow a pepper as well.  We looked around her house and discovered she had some pots that could be used.  We may need to purchase a few more.  We will both keep an eye out for good sales and deals.  To save some money I have already started many of these herbs and lots of tomatoes so I can supply her with the starts.  We will meet again in the beginning of May to pot up her edible garden.  We may decide later to add some cut flowers to her mix but we want to take it slow so she is not overwhelmed but most important that she is successful.  

Sharon's Garden: Front Yard Farms

http://daniellecornelius.com/