A Bountiful Supply of Eggs in our Future

     You know those old recipes that said, "add an egg if the hens are laying."  We had almost gotten to the point where we didn't have an egg for that recipe.  Sometimes I get the feeling we're running an old folk's home for poultry.  Yesterday, however, I found a listing on Craig's List advertising laying hens for sale.  I called, went up to her place north of Blackduck, and for $5 each I bought 5 pullets hatched this year, and 7 hens hatched last year.  She threw in 2 roosters for free.  Fertilized eggs are very low in cholesterol, right?  We'll soon be back to our healthy, egg-rich diet. 



Mr. Black is King of the Coop

The Hierarchy in the Coop

      Only Mr. Black knows how old he is, but he won't be abdicating his throne soon.  Bob, the one-year-old rooster pictured below tried to pull a coup for the Coop, but was unsuccessful.  The 1 year old speckled Auracanas behind him and the brown pullets on the left will be watching for future developments.


Bob looks a little bedraggled, but his time will come

In Other News

      I thought I'd throw in a picture of the 10 to 12 foot sunflowers as they've finally come into bloom.  We picked the first sweetcorn yesterday.  Tomorrow we'll be canning some tomatoes, and probably be eating our third baby watermelon.  The peas were done a while ago, the broccoli was plentiful, and done last week.  The cabbages have been very good, and are still coming.  We've had all the onions, carrots and potatoes we've needed, and most of the rest will go in the root cellar for winter.  The wild plums are late this year, as most things were, but should be ready in about a week.  They don't appear to be as plentiful as most years, but maybe we need a break from plum jelly.  We'll still have enough for in season snacks.
     Despite the late start, I'm happy with the results this far.  Of course the raccoons could hit tomorrow.  And the hail could hit next week.  Barring that or some other natural disaster, we should do OK this year.  And those are powerfully positive words for a Minnesotan.

Garden Plans- This year, good; Next year, Fantastic!

     This map may be helpful as a reference for the plans below.  It has also been added to my Garden Map and Geography page along with a map key and a description of plot sizes.  (Click on tag above for complete map information.)

 

 

Plans for Fall, 2013

 

First side done, second side primed and ready

Painting

     Use up the rest of the exterior paint on hand.  I still have about a half gallon of red and a gallon of white paint on hand.  That should be about enough to finish 2 sides of the chicken house and 3 sides of the garden house.  Wherever it ends, that will end my painting for this year.  To be continued next year.

 

2 cubic yards of manure if the springs hold up

 A Load or Two of Sheep Manure

     So far I've only used the chicken and pigeon poop produced on this farm, but I think it's time for an extra boost.  I now have a trailer for hauling and a friend with excess sheep manure.  The Fates are with me.

 

 

 

2 feet of snow outside, the boxes gave me an early start last spring

Greenhouse- Relocation with More Planting Boxes and More Shelves

     After the corn crop is harvested, I'll enlist the aid of a couple of grandsons to move the greenhouse from its current location on the north edge of the West Central Garden to its spot on the north end of the newly designated Greenhouse Garden.  The south end of that garden will be the outside spot where I move my planting boxes from the greenhouse when the weather warms up in the Spring. 

     The two boxes of lettuce and carrots worked well this year, so I plan to build more one foot by two foot boxes for next year.  More shelf space inside the greenhouse is also needed.
     There will be another posting on this topic when the project gets into full swing.

Root Cellar and Garden House Cleaning

     The root cellar needs a cleaning every year to prepare the spot to store those taters, carrots, onions, squash and whatever else we store for good eats in the winter.  The garden shed should be cleaned out more often, but it definitely needs it at least once a year.

Plan for 2014 Garden

     After reviewing past successes and failures, and past crop placement, I'll spend some time planning for a better year in 2014.

Plans for Fall that May get Put Off til Spring

 

     Not high on my priority list, but would be nice:

 

South Garden fence needs a little attention

New Gates and Fence Repair    

     The fence on the west side of the South Garden is in sorry shape and the only gate is through the South Poultry Yard.  It would be nice to be able to enter the garden without going through the chicken yard.  It would also be nice to have easier access to the main garden area close to the Chicken House.  Maybe this year, maybe next year.

Some work to be done yet on the new West Garden site

New West Garden Preparation

     The West Garden doesn't exist yet.  A fence needs to be torn down, a new section of fence with a gate needs to be built, a boxelder tree needs to be cut down, and a lot of site preparation needs to be done.  Maybe I'll get a start on that this fall.

 

 

Plans for Spring and Summer 2014

 

     Of course I'll be organizing and putting in the 2014 garden and continuing to work on the new West Garden, along with whichever fencing projects that didn't get done the previous Fall.  There are, however, a few other improvements I'd like to make.

Garden House Porch

     A simple porch type shelter on the east side of the Garden House would be a shady place to sit on warm sunny afternoons stirring my gin and tonic with a carrot while I commune with the vegetables and contemplate future gardening projects.

Painting, Water and Poultry

     Finish painting the Garden House and Chicken House, maybe start on the garage.
     Think a little more on the water reservoir project I started a year ago.
     Buy some new baby chicks or laying hens.  Egg production is down.

Before my 80th Birthday

 

     Renovate the hog house and remake the granary into a guest house.

     Re-roof and repaint the barn.

     If I don't get these things done by my 80th year, I'll probably just forget about them.  Or maybe not.  These are some things to think about while I'm sitting on my Garden House porch, stirring my gin and tonic with a freshly picked carrot.

10 foot sunflowers

The Lordly Sunflowers Towering over their Subjects



10 foot height, but just now thinking about forming flowers.



The first yellow flower just burst open today
 

Good Eats through the Summer


     Funny year this year.  The snow didn't go away until the first of May and the last frost, although a light frost, was on the 4th of June.  Except for two hot weeks in mid-July, the weather has been spring-like with lows in the 40's F, and highs in the 60's to low 70'sF.  That's been extremely good for the cool weather leafy crops like cabbage, broccoli, lettuce and spinach.  Not so great for warm weather crops like tomatoes and corn. 

one cabbage that survived the chicken invasion

     I'm not complaining, mind you.  We've certainly enjoyed the salads, cucumbers and cole slaw; the cooked cabbage, broccoli, spinach and carrots.  These have all been prolific this year.
     By the way, my concoction of garlic, cayenne pepper, and dishsoap marinated in water has kept the cabbage moths at bay.  No worms in our cabbage.  The trick is to spray it early, and after every rain or heavy dew.

Early Bantam sweetcorn, not so early

     We haven't had any corn or tomatoes yet, but we have immature cobs on the corn, and several orange and one almost red tomato.  With temperatures predicted to go into the 80'sF for the next week or two, I can already taste that butter-soaked corn on the cob and those tomato sandwiches.



14 inch diameter pumpkin, more on the way

     Remind me not to plant Buttercup squash again.  I meant to try Butternut, but ended up with Buttercup.  Too watery and tasteless for me, but the chickens seem to like them. 
     On the left is my biggest pumpkin so far, but they're still growing.  There are several green ones almost this big, with 2 months to go til Halloween.  Even if we get an early frost, we'll still have several nice ones.

     We've also been eating our red and Yukon gold potatoes.  The yield isn't as great as it could have been, but plenty for us.  We still have about 15 more hills yet to dig.  Yesterday I dug up the first two hills of Kennebec potatoes, and the yield was much better.  About 4 pounds to a hill and they're still growing.  There's about 50 or 60 hills of Kennebec yet to dig this fall, so we should have a good winter supply.

Tiger Lilies finally in Bloom

     Finally, for Amber's sister Kathy who was waiting for the tiger lilies to bloom last week, but had to return home to Texas last Sunday, here they are.  (Orange ones in the center)