The last five months are a blur of busy, busy and more busy. In short, the days were long and the happenings were many. Our chickens started laying eggs in late July, and quickly earned a great deal respect, as they became the pets with a payback. We left all our animals in the care of some fabulous pet and garden sitters for a trip to Colorado for a good friend's wedding. We enjoyed visits from friends and family, and had so much fun showing them our new corner of the world. We watched the days get shorter, and the to do list get longer with the addition of Miss Madeline, our latest (and last for hopefully a good long while) pet.
Miss Madeline, aka Miss Kitten, or, usually, Maddie is a grey tabby cat who joined our family as a complement to the chickens. Her purpose (other than entertaining us with her kitten antics, and keeping Stella Dog company while we're away during the day) is to keep the rodents, attracted by the constant buffet of chicken food that they scatter around the run of their coop, at bay. We've been thus far successful at keeping things clean enough to ward off any hungry rodents, but have noticed some tunneling in the run lately, and Maddie will hopefully be solving that once she's old enough to have free range of the yard. She's proving herself to be quite the hunter already, with spiders being promptly caught, played with momentarily and then devoured, and her poor stuffed bird toy has died a thousand times over by now.
We are slightly worried that she'll continue to view Stella Dog as the best recipient of all things hunted--currently bringing Stella her catch doesn't arouse much interest from her, more of a "what do you want me to do with this stuffed bird toy?" look, but I have a feeling a dead mouse might elicit more curiosity and potentially be viewed as an excellent snack. Things to look forward to.
The first year of our garden was productive, despite a colder and rainier than usual summer. Our tomato plants, of which there were about ten, yielded enough tomatoes for us to get sick of tomato sauce and can enough for most of the winter. We won't make it through the spring or early summer on our supply, but I'm neither interested in canning that many hours, nor tending more than a dozen or so tomato plants. Because we didn't have the long spells of hot, dry days the tomatoes didn't start ripening until mid-September, for the most part, a full six weeks later than last year. On the flip side, we still have tomatoes turning red on our counter right now.
We planted enough basil to satisfy our basil-loving household--I think we had five basil plants in all. Two japanese eggplants produced enough little eggplants for a couple of dishes--the weather slowed these guys down a lot. Our green beans, or future dilly beans, as the case may be, were very productive! And the kale and chard, well, they weren't the super-producers our last year's crop was, and the chickens managed to eat every leaf that did grow, so we need to reassess the deep greens for next year. The salad greens were amazing this year--after failing to show up for the party last year. The strawberries were being eaten by everything but us this year, and we were underwhelmed by berries for our breakfasts and desserts. Potatoes were a garden favorite again. Maybe because it's like a treasure hunt when you dig them up, or maybe because they multiply to greatly, but I love garden potatoes.
It's November now, and we've finished putting the garden to bed, with a liberal blanketing of leaves and some hen house manure mixed in they'll sleep until spring. I am experimenting with some cover crops--crimson clover and fava beans, in a few areas of the garden too.
Our attention has already turned inward, and we've resumed the front bedroom painting project we left off on the first sunny day last March. A key element to living in this climate is learning to live the long days to the fullest, and sleep in the winter. Like the garden.
Stella Dog: Our Urban Homestead Mascot
November 10, 2010
June 16, 2010
June Gloom & And Then There Were 3
In L.A. they call the foggy/smoggy gray days in June the "June Gloom", and Portland has been majoring in June Gloom weather this month. Which means the garden is growing slowly this year, and we're being forced to practice patience.
We also had a gloomy week in the chicken coop, because we had to say goodbye to one of our little birds. Polly, renamed Paulie, started crowing... It started off as a strange broken car alarm yelp of a noise, and within four days was nearing full on rooster crow. The mad search to find a new home ended with me having to scoop Paulie into a wire cage for the man who was taking him off to... well, I don't know what his plans for him were.
It was an interesting moment. On the one hand, I wanted to know where he was going. Because I picked him out when he was two days old and taught him how to drink, and watched him grow into a chicken. On the other hand, I knew I couldn't keep him and whatever his fate had to re-home him. I also eat meat, and that added an additional element of "I need to be ok with whatever he is going to do with him". So I didn't ask.
I can only assume he was not planning to keep him as a pet, but who knows. He was a pretty rooster and maybe he is off to father dozens of other pretty chickies.
So now there are three chickens in our coop. And they are all thrilled to run around the yard and trample the garden if I don't chase them away quickly enough. The two thirds of the yard that are open to trampling don't interest them nearly as much as those baby plants behind the poor excuse for a fence.
Photos to come...
We also had a gloomy week in the chicken coop, because we had to say goodbye to one of our little birds. Polly, renamed Paulie, started crowing... It started off as a strange broken car alarm yelp of a noise, and within four days was nearing full on rooster crow. The mad search to find a new home ended with me having to scoop Paulie into a wire cage for the man who was taking him off to... well, I don't know what his plans for him were.
It was an interesting moment. On the one hand, I wanted to know where he was going. Because I picked him out when he was two days old and taught him how to drink, and watched him grow into a chicken. On the other hand, I knew I couldn't keep him and whatever his fate had to re-home him. I also eat meat, and that added an additional element of "I need to be ok with whatever he is going to do with him". So I didn't ask.
I can only assume he was not planning to keep him as a pet, but who knows. He was a pretty rooster and maybe he is off to father dozens of other pretty chickies.
So now there are three chickens in our coop. And they are all thrilled to run around the yard and trample the garden if I don't chase them away quickly enough. The two thirds of the yard that are open to trampling don't interest them nearly as much as those baby plants behind the poor excuse for a fence.
Photos to come...
May 18, 2010
Garden update: early May
Friday was a big day in the garden-- our soil and compost (one cubic foot of each) was delivered and I set about digging up the lawn where the raised beds would go. It was *hard* work, but I made it through one entire eight by four foot bed in two hours, and then hauled the dirt to fill the bed in using a bucket. Note to self, borrow a wheelbarrow next time.
Mark helped me finish the other two beds on Saturday and the rest of the tomatoes got into the ground. Just in time as a few of them weren't looking too happy to still be in their little pots. The tomatoes that I'd planted in walls of water last week all made it, but don't appear to have grown very much, so we'll see how they fare in the long run. I planted four small basil starts, and one large basil plant (Trader Joe's for $2.99--who can say no to that?! I've already named it Pesto).
I planted two yellow zucchini starts and a row of black beauty zucchini from seeds. One entire bed will be wildflowers, and I got those seeds down just in time for the rain to start. One eggplant and one jalapeno start went into the ground as did two teeny tiny pepper plants that never turned into much indoors, but are still alive. Gardening is an experiment right?
We started eating lettuces and arugula this weekend- yum! And the second round of peas are up, the swiss chard is up, and the bush beans popped through the topsoil as well. The potatoes are flourishing, no flowers yet, but they are happy looking plants. I bought two blueberry bushes- one an early berry and one a late season berry, and put them in alongside the other two tiny blueberry bushes outside the kitchen window.
Next weekend is our housewarming party, so we're trying to power through the rest of the garden set up this week. Can't wait for the strawberries to come in!
Mark helped me finish the other two beds on Saturday and the rest of the tomatoes got into the ground. Just in time as a few of them weren't looking too happy to still be in their little pots. The tomatoes that I'd planted in walls of water last week all made it, but don't appear to have grown very much, so we'll see how they fare in the long run. I planted four small basil starts, and one large basil plant (Trader Joe's for $2.99--who can say no to that?! I've already named it Pesto).
I planted two yellow zucchini starts and a row of black beauty zucchini from seeds. One entire bed will be wildflowers, and I got those seeds down just in time for the rain to start. One eggplant and one jalapeno start went into the ground as did two teeny tiny pepper plants that never turned into much indoors, but are still alive. Gardening is an experiment right?
We started eating lettuces and arugula this weekend- yum! And the second round of peas are up, the swiss chard is up, and the bush beans popped through the topsoil as well. The potatoes are flourishing, no flowers yet, but they are happy looking plants. I bought two blueberry bushes- one an early berry and one a late season berry, and put them in alongside the other two tiny blueberry bushes outside the kitchen window.
Next weekend is our housewarming party, so we're trying to power through the rest of the garden set up this week. Can't wait for the strawberries to come in!
May 17, 2010
Watching Chick TV
I should take a photo of the view of the chicken coop that we have from our bed-- we love watching "Chick TV" out our window. Though they are hardly "chicks" any more- at 12 weeks today I'd say they are resembling full fledged chickens much more than the tiny peeping fluffballs I brought home in a box.
In sadder chicken news, our neighbors behind us lost a chicken to a raccoon on Sunday morning. Unfortunately we heard the entire thing because our window was open. It was a reality check about getting too attached and the importance of making sure the coop stays fortified. As long as the girls are in the henhouse they are safe and secure, and the run should also be secure but until the raccoon tests it, it's hard to know. Our neighbors chickens were in the run because it was early morning and they had just come down for the day. I certainly haven't been jumping out of bed in the pre-dawn to let ours out of the coop after that morning though...
Right now it's getting dark and I am watching our chickens start making their way up to the henhouse. Goldilocks always likes to go to bed first, and claims her spot on the far end of the roost. Rose usually follows her up and cozies up to Goldilocks. The other two generally lag a little and take their time going up to bed. Hyper generally tries to cajole Polly up for a while before giving up on her. But thankfully she figured out that she should go up the ladder at night--now if only she'd get up on the roost herself...
In sadder chicken news, our neighbors behind us lost a chicken to a raccoon on Sunday morning. Unfortunately we heard the entire thing because our window was open. It was a reality check about getting too attached and the importance of making sure the coop stays fortified. As long as the girls are in the henhouse they are safe and secure, and the run should also be secure but until the raccoon tests it, it's hard to know. Our neighbors chickens were in the run because it was early morning and they had just come down for the day. I certainly haven't been jumping out of bed in the pre-dawn to let ours out of the coop after that morning though...
Right now it's getting dark and I am watching our chickens start making their way up to the henhouse. Goldilocks always likes to go to bed first, and claims her spot on the far end of the roost. Rose usually follows her up and cozies up to Goldilocks. The other two generally lag a little and take their time going up to bed. Hyper generally tries to cajole Polly up for a while before giving up on her. But thankfully she figured out that she should go up the ladder at night--now if only she'd get up on the roost herself...
May 12, 2010
Early May on the "Farm"
We've continued to make progress on our growing garden. The first of the tomatoes are outside, huddled in their walls of water for another week or so. The second round of tomatoes are still happily hanging out under the kitchen windows--one even has a flower already! So exciting!
The bush beans--or "future dilly beans"--are all in the ground as of last weekend. The herbs I planted indoors all made it--and I haphazardly moved them outdoors to reclaim the windowsills in the kitchen. We'll see how they fare... the greatest successes in the garden often start with experiments. Right?
I succumbed to the appeal of starts and bought a pepper and eggplant to replace the still tiny peppers and eggplants I started from seeds. They are still alive and growing--just veryyyy slowly....
The chickens have been outdoors for ten days now. And three of the four of them understand that they should go up the ladder and put themselves to bed come dusk. Those same three also hop up onto the roost. The fourth is our special chicken...and every night Hyper (aka Chicken in Need of a New Name) comes back down the ladder and tries to heard Polly (aka Reluctant Chicken Who Doesn't Get It) up the ladder. She still doesn't get it and eventually Hyper gives up on her.
It's sad to watch because she gets all upset and while she knows exactly where the other chickens are, and if the craning of her neck toward the hen house is any evidence, and wants to go upstairs too, she just.doesn't.get.it. So we go out and walk her up the ladder--everything else they have "learned" has required us physically showing them how to do it it seems, so I am a stickler for making her walk up on her own. The issue number two presents itself- she is finally upstairs and the three other chickens are up on the roost and she doesn't get how to join them. To her credit, she is the biggest by farm and the roost is higher than the one in the brooder box. But still...
So then we have to go around and open the side of the hen house and lift her onto the roost. Yup, I said she's our Special Chicken.
The chicken humor of the week includes their predilection for following Stella Dog around while she eats grass in the yard-- they think she's onto something delicious, and she's oblivious until they start pecking at her nose to steal the grass from her! They have also all decided they ought to come in the house, which I think also started when they were following Stella Dog around--she got to come inside and then I shut the door on them. And they all lined up on the door step and started pecking at the glass! I think I have a photo to upload of this adorableness too.
The sun is showing itself a little more often and I'm psyched to fill our 64 square feet of newly assembled raised beds this weekend--doubling the size of the garden and creating the space for the rest of the tomatoes, and the yet to be planted squash supply.
The bush beans--or "future dilly beans"--are all in the ground as of last weekend. The herbs I planted indoors all made it--and I haphazardly moved them outdoors to reclaim the windowsills in the kitchen. We'll see how they fare... the greatest successes in the garden often start with experiments. Right?
I succumbed to the appeal of starts and bought a pepper and eggplant to replace the still tiny peppers and eggplants I started from seeds. They are still alive and growing--just veryyyy slowly....
The chickens have been outdoors for ten days now. And three of the four of them understand that they should go up the ladder and put themselves to bed come dusk. Those same three also hop up onto the roost. The fourth is our special chicken...and every night Hyper (aka Chicken in Need of a New Name) comes back down the ladder and tries to heard Polly (aka Reluctant Chicken Who Doesn't Get It) up the ladder. She still doesn't get it and eventually Hyper gives up on her.
It's sad to watch because she gets all upset and while she knows exactly where the other chickens are, and if the craning of her neck toward the hen house is any evidence, and wants to go upstairs too, she just.doesn't.get.it. So we go out and walk her up the ladder--everything else they have "learned" has required us physically showing them how to do it it seems, so I am a stickler for making her walk up on her own. The issue number two presents itself- she is finally upstairs and the three other chickens are up on the roost and she doesn't get how to join them. To her credit, she is the biggest by farm and the roost is higher than the one in the brooder box. But still...
So then we have to go around and open the side of the hen house and lift her onto the roost. Yup, I said she's our Special Chicken.
The chicken humor of the week includes their predilection for following Stella Dog around while she eats grass in the yard-- they think she's onto something delicious, and she's oblivious until they start pecking at her nose to steal the grass from her! They have also all decided they ought to come in the house, which I think also started when they were following Stella Dog around--she got to come inside and then I shut the door on them. And they all lined up on the door step and started pecking at the glass! I think I have a photo to upload of this adorableness too.
The sun is showing itself a little more often and I'm psyched to fill our 64 square feet of newly assembled raised beds this weekend--doubling the size of the garden and creating the space for the rest of the tomatoes, and the yet to be planted squash supply.
May 3, 2010
Garden Updates
I am terrible about logging the dates I plant things-- heck, I'm lucky if I manage to remember what I planted where, let alone write down what day... But since I have spent a fair amount of time this year wondering what day I planted things last year, I am trying to keep better notes.
Last week I put up three walls of water, and this weekend I popped five tomato plants into them. There are six in them total, because I planted a tomato outside two weeks ago as an experiment. The experimental tomato is still alive but hasn't grown much since I put it out there, so we'll see what happens with it. Last year the tomatoes and peppers that faired the best were the ones that almost died for one reason or another-- strange but true.
I also planted a second round of peas this weekend-- the original peas I planted a month or so ago are four inches high. I rigged up the pea trellis too, so it's ready when they are big enough. I replanted a couple of grape vines that grew up in the middle of what I am turning into a tomato bed, and wasn't sure what kind of roots they were supposed to have when I dug them up, so that's a bit of an experiment too.
We still have a ton of tomatoes in the windowsill inside, and some struggling eggplant and peppers--that are only an inch high and not yet sporting real leaves. I might have to replace them with starts unless they grow exponentially between now and two weeks from now when I want them in the ground.
The strawberries have a whole ton of flowers, which has me so looking forward to June and fresh strawberries in the yard! The one downside of the community garden was having to make a trip to collect our goodies-- this year we'll be able to run outside and grab a few strawberries to put on our granola- fun!
Last week I put up three walls of water, and this weekend I popped five tomato plants into them. There are six in them total, because I planted a tomato outside two weeks ago as an experiment. The experimental tomato is still alive but hasn't grown much since I put it out there, so we'll see what happens with it. Last year the tomatoes and peppers that faired the best were the ones that almost died for one reason or another-- strange but true.
I also planted a second round of peas this weekend-- the original peas I planted a month or so ago are four inches high. I rigged up the pea trellis too, so it's ready when they are big enough. I replanted a couple of grape vines that grew up in the middle of what I am turning into a tomato bed, and wasn't sure what kind of roots they were supposed to have when I dug them up, so that's a bit of an experiment too.
We still have a ton of tomatoes in the windowsill inside, and some struggling eggplant and peppers--that are only an inch high and not yet sporting real leaves. I might have to replace them with starts unless they grow exponentially between now and two weeks from now when I want them in the ground.
The strawberries have a whole ton of flowers, which has me so looking forward to June and fresh strawberries in the yard! The one downside of the community garden was having to make a trip to collect our goodies-- this year we'll be able to run outside and grab a few strawberries to put on our granola- fun!
May 2, 2010
Moving into the new abode
Today was a big day in the life of our ten week old chicks--they moved into their own house! After 6 weeks in the house, and 3 weeks in the garage they moved to their sprawling new coop and run. We have been letting them frolic in the yard for a couple hours a day and they have been migrating toward their coop pretty frequently- checking it out and inspecting M's handiwork?
We "put them to bed" a little while ago and I felt bad shutting them into their house for the night. I'm not sure why since it's essentially the same as shutting them in the garage in their brooder box... but they are all tucked in and hopefully figuring out the new roost as I type.
We "put them to bed" a little while ago and I felt bad shutting them into their house for the night. I'm not sure why since it's essentially the same as shutting them in the garage in their brooder box... but they are all tucked in and hopefully figuring out the new roost as I type.
April 29, 2010
Lately, in Photos
the coop, nearing completion
rhubarb, 5 weeks
the onion patch, 3 weeks or so
strawberries!
kohlrabi from last fall, transplanted from our community garden. now 4 feet tall!
walls of water- warming up for this weekend's tomato planting
the nonedibles are happy too!
April 12, 2010
Check these things off the list
Friday 4/9: Planted a zillion onions. French onion soup in July anyone?; garden bed prep, weeding, continued
Saturday 4/10: Planted herbs from seed, planted thyme and sage starts (in containers for the patio); battled the ivy in the yard for a good number of hours; coop continued- getting closer to the final stages...; repotted some cramped tomatoes
Sunday 4/11: Battle of the Ivy continued!; planted wildflowers along the fence and on the side of the house in two spots; planted jalapeños from seed, got the hanging chick feeder rigged up in the brooder box (they are constantly turning the on-the-ground one over now...)
Whew. Need a nap just thinking about the weekend!
Saturday 4/10: Planted herbs from seed, planted thyme and sage starts (in containers for the patio); battled the ivy in the yard for a good number of hours; coop continued- getting closer to the final stages...; repotted some cramped tomatoes
Sunday 4/11: Battle of the Ivy continued!; planted wildflowers along the fence and on the side of the house in two spots; planted jalapeños from seed, got the hanging chick feeder rigged up in the brooder box (they are constantly turning the on-the-ground one over now...)
Whew. Need a nap just thinking about the weekend!
Small Car, Big Plans
This weekend we yet again tested the capacity of our little Honda Civic, unintentionally. (Sidenote: we wish we had been chronicling all the days we've proven that you can in fact fit more than you would think into a wee auto. Like the *large* gas grill we scored for free. Or 2 months of backpacking gear and food PLUS two friends...etc. etc.) We went to the Feed & Seed store to pickup the next stage of chicken feed, and got the "while we're here" bug, and ended up buying a bale of hay.
I had no idea just how large a bale of hay is, and the only place it fit in our car was in the backseat (and just barely fit there!). That left me and Mark and Stella Dog with all of 2 options- the front seats or the trunk. So we all got in the front.
And Stella Dog, little shadow dog who loves to be in the middle of everything me and Mark related, was quite happy to ride the ten or so miles home in my lap!
I had no idea just how large a bale of hay is, and the only place it fit in our car was in the backseat (and just barely fit there!). That left me and Mark and Stella Dog with all of 2 options- the front seats or the trunk. So we all got in the front.
And Stella Dog, little shadow dog who loves to be in the middle of everything me and Mark related, was quite happy to ride the ten or so miles home in my lap!
April 9, 2010
Onions, Dill & Tomatoes
Today was a "surprise sunny day", so Stella Dog had the pleasure of following me around the yard observing various garden projects while pleading to play fetch instead. I got another 6 feet of garden space sort-of-double-dug and amended, and a TON of onions in the ground. Not so much on purpose, as because I dumped the entire bag out without realizing how many baby onions it contained and didn't feel like packaging any back up... so we'll probably have more onions than we know what to do with come a few months from now.
The tomatoes are SO happy in our sunny kitchen! So happy that many of them needed a second transplanting to provide for more space. Got that done today, and shortly I'll have to decide just how many tomato plants I'll put in the ground. The rest I'll give away because tomato starts are in high demand with my gardening friends.
One of the things we're missing from our last home is the herb garden. I am slowly remedying that and planted some dill and cilantro seeds today. I've never had any luck whatsoever growing herbs from seed, but thought I'll give it another shot since I still had the seeds... and then buy some starts later on if this effort fails. I planted dill and cilantro and chamomile today.
I also managed to accomplish a long list of indoor projects that I've been putting off week after week. I'm very happy to have the bathroom finally completed--new shower curtains and resurrected curtains helped take it from work-in-progress to Finished!
Here's hoping for sun tomorrow for coop building round 2!
The tomatoes are SO happy in our sunny kitchen! So happy that many of them needed a second transplanting to provide for more space. Got that done today, and shortly I'll have to decide just how many tomato plants I'll put in the ground. The rest I'll give away because tomato starts are in high demand with my gardening friends.
One of the things we're missing from our last home is the herb garden. I am slowly remedying that and planted some dill and cilantro seeds today. I've never had any luck whatsoever growing herbs from seed, but thought I'll give it another shot since I still had the seeds... and then buy some starts later on if this effort fails. I planted dill and cilantro and chamomile today.
I also managed to accomplish a long list of indoor projects that I've been putting off week after week. I'm very happy to have the bathroom finally completed--new shower curtains and resurrected curtains helped take it from work-in-progress to Finished!
Here's hoping for sun tomorrow for coop building round 2!
April 8, 2010
Baby Veggies!
April 7, 2010
Coop Photos
Here is the book I used in my brief period of chicken research--super helpful!
And here are a few photos from Coop Construction Day One. Fingers crossed that there is only one more installment in the Coop Construction Series--and that we finish it this weekend! (Above: Mark and Stella Dog, considering whether it will continue to drizzle or truly start to rain on us) (Below: I reached the cold and wet stage a few hours earlier than my hardy husband, here he is working hard by himself)
A Chicken Remodel & Addition
Yesterday the chicks moved into a palatial new spread-- double the square footage, with a secret side room and new and improved roofing. They're still in the basement, but were outgrowing their brooder box, so we had to add an addition and remodel while we were at it.
Here they are chowing down after moving in.
Here they are chowing down after moving in.
$100 Chicken Coop Budget-- possible?
Given the serious expenditures going on as of late, we were aiming to keep the chicken coop costs to $100. And if you don't count the $450+ we spent on a new fridge on one of our Lowe's trips to pick up coop supplies, we did pretty well.
We were able to find reclaimed lumber at the Reconstruction Center and only needed to buy treated wood for the pieces that will lie on the ground. We also found a giant piece of plywood in a free pile on the curb a month or so ago, and luckily expended the effort to walk it home (a half a mile, probably through the rain...) because it will make up the majority of the henhouse. We had to buy one more piece of plywood and the chicken wire too. When all is said and done we came in around $110 for supplies.
We are extremely lucky in that we live in a neighborhood with a Tool Library--and we were able to borrow the tools we didn't already have. But then Lowe's was having a fabulous sale on drills, or so I am told. So we ended up with a new drill in the process. Ce la vie.
We were able to find reclaimed lumber at the Reconstruction Center and only needed to buy treated wood for the pieces that will lie on the ground. We also found a giant piece of plywood in a free pile on the curb a month or so ago, and luckily expended the effort to walk it home (a half a mile, probably through the rain...) because it will make up the majority of the henhouse. We had to buy one more piece of plywood and the chicken wire too. When all is said and done we came in around $110 for supplies.
We are extremely lucky in that we live in a neighborhood with a Tool Library--and we were able to borrow the tools we didn't already have. But then Lowe's was having a fabulous sale on drills, or so I am told. So we ended up with a new drill in the process. Ce la vie.
April 6, 2010
This week in gardening...and poultry
On Sunday we got the chicken's new abode half built. In a drizzly rain, and in the freezing cold. But it's half up. This weekend we'll finish it, though they are still scheduled to be living in the basement for another month or so.
That month can't go quickly enough, for their sake. They are getting quite big, and a bit rowdy. Constantly knocking over their water and making a giant mess...flying the "coop" whenever possible is also a favorite past-time. We put a screen on top to keep them in the brooder box, so a new favorite hobby is flying into the screen and knocking it off. Fun times for teenage chickens?
In between erecting pieces of the coop I managed to get peas and carrots in the ground. The lettuces are starting to pop up. I think. Either that or we have a sudden influx of clovers in the exact spots I planted greens... It's been stormy for over a week, so my time in the yard has been limited. Hoping for a sunny weekend. Or at least one sunny day...
On tap for next weekend: finishing the coop (**hopefully**), continuing to double dig the garden beds, and addressing the growing pile of yard waste in the back yard. It seems all my yard projects entail pulling up, digging up, or chopping down something. And it's generally ivy...
That month can't go quickly enough, for their sake. They are getting quite big, and a bit rowdy. Constantly knocking over their water and making a giant mess...flying the "coop" whenever possible is also a favorite past-time. We put a screen on top to keep them in the brooder box, so a new favorite hobby is flying into the screen and knocking it off. Fun times for teenage chickens?
In between erecting pieces of the coop I managed to get peas and carrots in the ground. The lettuces are starting to pop up. I think. Either that or we have a sudden influx of clovers in the exact spots I planted greens... It's been stormy for over a week, so my time in the yard has been limited. Hoping for a sunny weekend. Or at least one sunny day...
On tap for next weekend: finishing the coop (**hopefully**), continuing to double dig the garden beds, and addressing the growing pile of yard waste in the back yard. It seems all my yard projects entail pulling up, digging up, or chopping down something. And it's generally ivy...
April 5, 2010
Chicks : 6 Weeks
The chicks are 6 weeks old, and minus one peculiar screech we haven't had any crowing yet-- here's hoping they are all hens!
March 30, 2010
End of March Garden Update
It's nearly the end of March, time is slipping away! But the garden is, shall we say coming together. Last weekend I bought and planted 4 blueberry bushes, got 6 kinds of lettuces (seed) in the ground (just in time for a huge storm and a good soaking...), planted the rest of the potatoes that have been sprouting away in a bag for 2+ months (they are an experiment since they started sprouting early and I ignored them until the last few weekends, and they were potatoes from our CSA not official "seed potatoes"), and planted 2 containers with rhubarb.
The strawberries all took quite nicely to their new home, and the parsley has survived a second replanting in two weeks (thanks to my haphazard planting the first time it needed to make way for lettuce).
I am hoping to get peas and carrots in the ground this week. Then our weekend projects will begin to include some important pieces of the garden puzzle--the raised beds and the chicken coop. Last weekend we installed a new door to the garage, so that we can easily get our bikes in and out and access the garden tools from the back yard. Installing doors makes me very grateful to have my architect/former construction worker husband!!
The chickens are growing, entertaining us with their antics, and so far only mildly sounding like there might be a rooster amongst the flock.
The strawberries all took quite nicely to their new home, and the parsley has survived a second replanting in two weeks (thanks to my haphazard planting the first time it needed to make way for lettuce).
I am hoping to get peas and carrots in the ground this week. Then our weekend projects will begin to include some important pieces of the garden puzzle--the raised beds and the chicken coop. Last weekend we installed a new door to the garage, so that we can easily get our bikes in and out and access the garden tools from the back yard. Installing doors makes me very grateful to have my architect/former construction worker husband!!
The chickens are growing, entertaining us with their antics, and so far only mildly sounding like there might be a rooster amongst the flock.
March 16, 2010
Garden Planning & Spontaneous Planting
I have been walking a fine line between planning and spontaneity in the garden this year. I planned my tomato planting carefully- getting the seeds in under lights Valentine's Day weekend, and then quickly and haphazardly re-potted in the middle of our move.
We had to relinquish our community garden plot a few days before we moved into our new house-- which meant digging up our beloved strawberry plants (and a few other stragglers that made it through the winter- kale and cabbage) and then leaving them in a bucket in the rain all week. So they had to get in the ground this weekend if they were going to make it. Problem was we were cleaning our old house and finishing the move on the same weekend, which meant no time for a well planned out strawberry plot or perfectly amended soil.
So I found a spot that looked like it would get some sun, quickly dug it up and aerated a bit and plopped all the strawberry plants in. The cabbage and kale received an equally quick planting, and the garden is officially started.
I planting Anaheim pepper and eggplant seeds March 7, and they are under the lights now- still no signs of germination, but it's been pretty cold in the house.
The chickens continue to provide more than a healthy dose of humor to our lives, and occasionally a little scare. Like yesterday when Mark came home and found only 3 chicks in the brooding box... the fourth chick, Goldilocks, was huddled in between the brooder and the wall. Stuck. She'd flown out apparently-- time for some mesh across the top I guess. I'm still convincing that Hyper, the Plymouth Barred Rock, is a rooster but only time will tell.
The compost bin has been installed, with a wire platform on the bottom (rodent protection) and we're up and running on that front (which is good since we'd been piling compost up all week in various containers and it was only a matter of time before that got gross.)
Next on the agenda: building 2 raised beds (3 if I convince Mark to put one in the front yard too); the chicken coop; and cutting a new door in the back of the garage for easy access to all my garden tools.
We had to relinquish our community garden plot a few days before we moved into our new house-- which meant digging up our beloved strawberry plants (and a few other stragglers that made it through the winter- kale and cabbage) and then leaving them in a bucket in the rain all week. So they had to get in the ground this weekend if they were going to make it. Problem was we were cleaning our old house and finishing the move on the same weekend, which meant no time for a well planned out strawberry plot or perfectly amended soil.
So I found a spot that looked like it would get some sun, quickly dug it up and aerated a bit and plopped all the strawberry plants in. The cabbage and kale received an equally quick planting, and the garden is officially started.
I planting Anaheim pepper and eggplant seeds March 7, and they are under the lights now- still no signs of germination, but it's been pretty cold in the house.
The chickens continue to provide more than a healthy dose of humor to our lives, and occasionally a little scare. Like yesterday when Mark came home and found only 3 chicks in the brooding box... the fourth chick, Goldilocks, was huddled in between the brooder and the wall. Stuck. She'd flown out apparently-- time for some mesh across the top I guess. I'm still convincing that Hyper, the Plymouth Barred Rock, is a rooster but only time will tell.
The compost bin has been installed, with a wire platform on the bottom (rodent protection) and we're up and running on that front (which is good since we'd been piling compost up all week in various containers and it was only a matter of time before that got gross.)
Next on the agenda: building 2 raised beds (3 if I convince Mark to put one in the front yard too); the chicken coop; and cutting a new door in the back of the garage for easy access to all my garden tools.
March 3, 2010
Our new house!
The Urban Homestead in Progress is officially "in progress", as of this weekend we are very excited to call this little bungalow home. This week we've been busy refinishing the Doug Fir floors. In between coats of polyurethane I've been busy re-potting tomato starts, fussing over the chicks to get them used to us (and Stella Dog), and making a plan for the yard.
We'll move in Saturday, and then the projects on the short list include: fixing the bathroom door, building a chicken coop, and putting in two or three additional raised beds.
February 26, 2010
Beer and Cheese
Our winter activities (while stuck at home in the rain) have include two new experiments: brewing beer and making cheese.
The beer process has been guided by the advice of our local homebrew store employees, and a great book (Joy of Homebrewing).
We have about five gallons of "Baller Brown" brown ale bottled and chilling in the basement. Might have to crack into in over the weekend and sample our first batch. (We did sneak some sips when bottling it, and it seemed like we were on the right track!)
The cheese experiment was a huge success-- probably thanks to the liquid rennet I found at the homebrew store. A friend and I made two batches, one with the readily available Junket rennet tablets (presumably vegetarian), and one with the "animal based rennet" that came in liquid form. The animal based one is sourced from veal, so definitely not vegetarian friendly.
The batch made with liquid rennet was amazingly easy- from start to finish about 20 minutes. The tablet batch didn't work out so well, after an hour and a half of waiting for it to thicken, we called it good enough and ate it in mushy ricotta-like form.
I experimented with using the leftover whey to cook pasta last night and it was delicious!
February 25, 2010
Chicks! Day One
The chicks are three days old, but it's our first day delighting in the hilarity of baby chickens!
(And Stella Dog is majorly curious, and can't stop reaching her head into their box to try and sniff their tiny heads!)
(And Stella Dog is majorly curious, and can't stop reaching her head into their box to try and sniff their tiny heads!)
January 18, 2010
Yogurt Round 2
So after the overwhelming success of last week's yogurt making, I decided to try it again this week. The recipe I used last week called for one cup of dried milk. Which I was out of this week... so I gave it a go sans dried milk. And it sort of worked. It's mostly set, but definitely not the thick, greek yogurt of last week.
Stella Dog is psyched though, because while I don't like watery yogurt, she and her yeast-prone Lab ears love it.
Stella Dog is psyched though, because while I don't like watery yogurt, she and her yeast-prone Lab ears love it.
January 10, 2010
Yogurt
During our Locavore Challenge this fall, we bought dairy products from a small farm outside of town. The yogurt came in big ball jars and in addition to being delicious, produced no extra trash at the end-- no plastic film cover to throw away, and no plastic tub to recycle. We re-use the yogurt containers for any number of things around the house, but go through at least one 32 ounce container a week and have piles of them in our cupboard. So I resolved to try to make yogurt, mostly to eliminate the packaging from our lives.
My first attempt was a time-consuming failure and the yogurt didn't set right or taste very good. So we fed it to Stella Dog. Who loved it.
Four months later I was ready to try again. Armed with a new recipe (from the Whole Foods for the Whole Family cookbook), and a new plan for keeping the yogurt at the right temperature I set out with low expectations.
First, you put 4C of milk in a pan and the recipe says to "scald them milk", unsure of what that meant I just heated it until it was near boiling. Once it cools back down to 95-115F, you add 1C of dry milk, which they didn't specify needed to be whisked in to dissolve, but I discovered quickly, and then add 2-4 tablespoons of yogurt with live active cultures. We had a giant tub of Nancy's Organic in the fridge so I used that. I was generous in the amount of yogurt I added.
Once everything is mixed together you put it in jars and then for the hard part... Keeping it between 95-115 degrees for 3-9 hours, or until it sets. Last time I tried preheating the oven and then turning it off. Even on the lowest setting it was too hot (and probably killed my yogurt cultures resulting in the failure to set). Other ways of maintaining the temperature including electric heating pads, using your food dehydrator, or setting the yogurt in a thermos wrapped in a towel. My food dehydrator is the type with trays, so that wasn't an option for me. So I settled on yet another option-- using a cooler and a hot water bottle to heat it up. The cooler maintains the temperature and once I played with the number of heat sources a bit I got it right and was able to leave the yogurt to setting without constantly checking the temperature. I used a digital thermometer to monitor the temperature and with one hot water bottle and one glass jar filled with boiling water and a few minutes for them to cool a bit, the temperature maintained at 111 degrees for long enough that I left for a few hours.
Six hours later we came back and the temperature was 89 and the yogurt was set! Success!
New Projects
We went to our local home brew supply store to stock up on the rest of the tools and ingredients for making beer! And I couldn't resist a small bottle of root beer extract, since we got a soda siphon for our wedding and I haven't used it for anything but club soda yet.
January 8, 2010
Today's Projects: Starting a Starter & Homemade Cheezits
Becoming a bread snob is not something I anticipated, given that I grew up on whatever was on sale and spongy enough for kid sandwiches... But, alas, bread snobbery has overtaken me and I can't even entertain the idea of a loaf that comes in a brown plastic bag with a twist tie. My first ventures into homemade bread took place in a great span of purposeful unemployment in the two months before our move to Portland. I made my own starter from scratch, using an LA Times recipe, and devoted many mornings to break making. Settling on the NY Times No Knead recipe as my ultimate favorite (who's going to argue with less work?!), I made endless loaves of bread that spring. When we moved, I couldn't bring my starter, and I promptly stopped baking bread.
Last winter I pulled out the LA Times article on starting a starter and was surprised, and saddened, when it didn't work. Maybe I'd forgotten to use spring water? Unsure of what went wrong, I quickly moved on to other projects and Mark started making bread with regular old yeast which was delicious enough to distract me from getting a starter going.
Since January is a good time to resolve to do everything on your list, I added "start making sourdough bread" to my list of resolutions. On New Year's day I got out the recipe and the flour, remembered to use spring water, and my starter is now at stage 4-- almost a "mother starter".
Starting a starter is a bit like having another pet-- because you have to pass close attention to it's livelihood, and feed and water it accordingly to schedule. But once you get it going it rewards you with fluffy, perfectly consistent loaves of homemade sourdough. Once you have an active starter you can store it in the fridge and feed it every few weeks, it's just getting to that point that takes a little patience and dedication.
Once the starter was fed and aerated I moved on to a more indulgent project-- homemade parmesean crackers, as featured on one of my favorite cooking blogs Smitten Kitchen. Cheezits are most definitely my very favorite junk food, and they have to be the "full fat" version-- none of this reduced fat or sodium business when I'm eating Cheezits! I was sure I would like these, but unsure if they'd be worth the trouble. The verdict is in, and they are worth the 30-40 minutes I spent from start to finish, and that includes washing the bowl.
I made a few modifications to the recipe- the main one being use of just a spoon since I don't have a food processor. I also used cold butter and a pastry blender to blend the flour and butter-- this resulted in the flaky pastry crust I was hoping for. The recipe made around 40 small crackers, and I promptly devoured about half of them. YUM.
Last winter I pulled out the LA Times article on starting a starter and was surprised, and saddened, when it didn't work. Maybe I'd forgotten to use spring water? Unsure of what went wrong, I quickly moved on to other projects and Mark started making bread with regular old yeast which was delicious enough to distract me from getting a starter going.
Since January is a good time to resolve to do everything on your list, I added "start making sourdough bread" to my list of resolutions. On New Year's day I got out the recipe and the flour, remembered to use spring water, and my starter is now at stage 4-- almost a "mother starter".
Starting a starter is a bit like having another pet-- because you have to pass close attention to it's livelihood, and feed and water it accordingly to schedule. But once you get it going it rewards you with fluffy, perfectly consistent loaves of homemade sourdough. Once you have an active starter you can store it in the fridge and feed it every few weeks, it's just getting to that point that takes a little patience and dedication.
Once the starter was fed and aerated I moved on to a more indulgent project-- homemade parmesean crackers, as featured on one of my favorite cooking blogs Smitten Kitchen. Cheezits are most definitely my very favorite junk food, and they have to be the "full fat" version-- none of this reduced fat or sodium business when I'm eating Cheezits! I was sure I would like these, but unsure if they'd be worth the trouble. The verdict is in, and they are worth the 30-40 minutes I spent from start to finish, and that includes washing the bowl.
I made a few modifications to the recipe- the main one being use of just a spoon since I don't have a food processor. I also used cold butter and a pastry blender to blend the flour and butter-- this resulted in the flaky pastry crust I was hoping for. The recipe made around 40 small crackers, and I promptly devoured about half of them. YUM.
Limoncello Love
I absolutely adore limoncello, and while I have yet to find one that I consider unpalatable, the most delicious limoncello I've was the first batch I made myself. After spending the holidays outside of San Francisco last year, we drove back to Portland with a trash bag full of lemons from my parents' yard. Destined to become limoncello, they also provided the impetus for plenty of other lemon projects, including lemon pudding, candied lemon rinds, lemonade, and frozen lemon juice (to be used over the months to come).
This year we have a slightly smaller batch of lemons to work with (thanks for bringing them to us Mom!), and round 2 of the homemade limoncello is underway. The lemon zest will sit in the alcohol for 42 days before we move on to adding the sugar.
January 5, 2010
Plum Wine: An Experiment
Last summer, our first full summer in Portland, we were delighted to discover an abundance of fruit growing on trees throughout our neighborhood and friends' yards. We ate fresh figs, plums, cherries and apples right off the tree throughout the summer months. The plums were definitely the most plentiful, and one evening we went to a friend's house and picked a good 20 pounds of plums from her trees. Our sights were set on homemade wine, something Mark had experimented with once before. His first fruit wine was choke cherry--and required an amazing amount of sugar, and might have been less and wine then a liqueur in the end, but delicious in any case!
This time around, we followed a recipe specifically for plum wine and added champagne yeast. A key step of the wine process was taking place two days before our wedding, and there is some question as to whether the sugar was ever added to the plum wine! So we've decided to give it some more time (we're about 6 months into the project at this point), and hope for the best.
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