Hens now 4 months old!

Sometime in July they should start laying.  E-mail me if you want to get on the fresh egg list. Customers taking a dozen on regular intervals get them first!

Have you ever seen artichokes growing?

I lived in California, years ago and loved that I could buy artichokes at such a reasonable price.  Now they are very expensive, especially here in the Midwest.  I know why though,  they take a lot of space in the garden and are small in comparison to the bush they grow on.  The bushes are over 4 feet across and the artichokes sprout out of the top of the plant.  It is beautiful and a rare treat.  So out of the 5 bushes I have I'll harvest about 10 artichokes.  The plants won't die in the winter.  These are from last year and I just covered them with plastic over the winter months.

Pumpkins and squash are sprouting!

Busy weekend.  Saturday I started cultivating and muching around all the sprouts in the garden.  All the plantings are doing well.  Picked more strawberries, asparagus and radishes.
 Italians eat their radish tops.  Don't waste those lovely greens.  As long as they are too big and tough, you can saute them in olive oil, lemon juice or white wine and garlic.  Yummy! 
When it's time to thin my radish rows, I wash all the sprouts that I pull up and throw the whole thing in a saute pan, add white wine and garlic and serve with pork chops, marinated, then grilled with olive oil, oregano and garlic, s&p.  Music to my mouth.
Animals were active this weekend.  New baby chickens are now allowed out of their run during the day.  I leave the chicken run open so they can go in and still feel comfortable, eat and get water there too.  The rooster stays close by and keeps them all in the coop corner of the farm for now.  At night they go into the coop with no problem.  26 new hens keep that rooster very busy.
I got the ducks to eat out of my hand this weekend.  I sit in the grass and pet them when they come to see what's in my hand. Steve and I are still trying to get them to swim more in the pond.  They stay very close to shore which is dangerous.  They are safer if they can stay out in the middle of the water.  Foxes and coyotes won't go swimming for dinner.
Steve did a bit of fishing on Sunday. He caught a catfish that was pretty darn big.  Big enough to eat, but he let him go.  They are doing a great job keeping the pond clean.
Saturday evening we had some visitors.  A pair of geese came by the pond with their 3 babies.  They were so cute.    Babies were too small to fly yet.  And as the sun set, the goose family rested a while and then moved on to look for shelter for the night.

Tomatoes are planted!

May 5th, 93 degrees and humid is not the best temperature to be planting in the garden but this weekend is the best time of year.  28 tomato plants, 20 varieties of heirlooms are now in the ground.  Cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash  and eggplant were added.  I also planted more rows of Rapa (italian collards) regular collard greens and more beets.  I just couldn't resist planting more beets.  To have beets available in the garden year round is wonderful.  So I say, not Steve.  Beets are not his favorite food but I serve him the beets greens and save the red beet jewels for me.
Next planting is the pumpin patch behind the chicken coop and the melons in the front garden. I'll get that done during this week.

Cleaned out the chicken coop again.  It's turning into a once-a-month tasks, with so many hens now.  Thirty four messy hens. More poo for the compost pile.

Today was the day for the ducks to go into the pond.  Easier said than done.  I had to carry each duck to the pond and toss th5em in.  They quacked like I was torturing them.  They swam around a bit and flapped their wings and walked back into the barn.  It will take some time to covince them that it's more fun in the pond than in the barn. 

Sunday May 6th, rain storms coming in.  Yipee!  All my seeds and new plants with get plenty of water to start them off correctly!

Planting is in full swing!

Longer, sunny days allow me to get 2 or 3 good planting hours in right after work. I've been dashing out of the office at 4:30 PM (which is my regular leaving time but it rarely happens) and I work until sunset which is now around 7:45.
The tilling went beautifully. We have nice dark brown soil and I am amending with worm castings and composted chicken poo.
Last night I planted radishes, spinach, turnips (3 kinds) and carrots (3 kinds). The night before I planted 3 kinds of potatoes and 2 kinds of onions. The night before that (Monday) I planted 3 kinds of bush beans, red onions, ever-bearing strawberries to fill in the existing berry patch and radishes.
This Saturday we plan to plant the new Macintosh apple trees and peach trees that Steve just bought. The peach trees already have small fuzzy peaches on them.
Now I have about 60 square feet of garden left. I am not even half done.

Windy but very productive day!

After a busy weekend of meetings I had some time on Sunday afternoon to help Steve with his new project. Our 27 baby chickens are not babies anymore and they needed a new chiken run to play outside. We cleaned out the area between the big horse barn and the chicken coop. It was our temp storage place for extra wood. After hauling all the wood into to horse barn we started enclosing the area between barns for the chickens. By 7PM we had a beautiful area for the new chickens to run, scratch and play during the day with a door directly into the coop and an outside door for easy pen cleaning. They are happy campers and can now suppliment their diet with all the bugs available! Yummy!
I also planted 25 more, ever blooming strawberry plants, 2 raspberry, 2 blackberry bushes and more lettuce.
Tonight I will plant beans, radishes and peas. I hope to have at least 5 types planted by the weekend and finish up after Steve finishes tilling. Planting season is busy!

It's Asparagus Season!!!

I really could be out there picking asparagus everyday.
My 3 year old patch is about 60 feet long by 4 feet wide. This is our first spring to cut spears for eating and we are having asparagus with almost ever meal.
I will start freezing some and then work on a really good Cream of Asparagus soup for the winter months, because I could really see us getting a bit tired of having Asparagus with every meal. I'm not complaining now, but now I see how it can get a bit boring after awhile.
Roasted, tossed with garlic salt and toasted sesame oil is still my favorite! It's like candy!
Photos to come.
Also, Strawberry blossoms a plenty! This is early!