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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!)