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!

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!

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!

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!

When life gives you lemons...

Make limoncello!

Baby Veggies!

Yay for cold weather loving seedlings! Wee little lettuces are poking their heads through the dirt, and today a baby rhubarb made an appearance too.

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.

$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.

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...

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!