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.