Why I don't take photos.

Lately I've had no photos to accompany this blog. Okay, I haven't had much to say either but that's a story for another day. I've had plenty of things I'd like to show you. But then I look through the camera lens and there's always some sort of disaster going on in the background and I'm not able to a. clean it up or b. shoot around it.

I know you all understand weeds in the garden and unmade beds. But its embarrassing. Between work, full time school, car pooling the child 30 miles one way to school and taking care of the menagerie, things around here have become unraveled. I still get lots of lovely produce from the garden and I get very pretty eggs from my girls. The turtle finally expired but an abandoned baby bunny arrived. I still cook and bake bread. But sometimes clean up has to wait until much later in the day.

So imagine if you will, very happy cantaloupe vines producing a second crop while taking over the eastern half of the yard. 5 fat little hens in a chicken tractor cooing and trilling while munching fresh grass and bugs with the occasional cucumber from the garden. A new enclosure for the meat birds, who have also become rather fat and whose time on this earth is drawing to a close. Overlook the laundry that needs folding and the dishes in the sink. Those weeds will either get pulled or the frost will do them in.

Its all good and my problems are those of abundance.

My higher power (insert the name you use for the creator) has taken very good care of us. But as you can see, there are still no photos.

Flabbergasted!!

What a great word. How appropriate to the situation it is.

Just now I went out to the chicken tractor to check for eggs. What do I see? The bird that was crowing and hopping on top of all the other birds is up in the coop laying a lovely blue-green egg.

Other words that might apply are as follows...

Flummoxed
Confounded
Confused
and Whaaaaaat?


Please feel free to add any other words you feel might be fitting.

1st egg!!

Well done, girls.

Chickzilla!!

We've started some meat birds. The hatchery sends you an extra chick for free, you just don't get to choose the breed. I thought, "Heck, why not?" one more bird is a good thing, right?


Well here she is, we call her chickzilla. She (or he) is only two weeks old and is HUGE. I believe she may be a Dominique. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Help. Chicken issues.

Okay, so this is one of the things that's been keeping me from blogging. No, not the beautiful teenager, the chicken. Actually I have 5 of them. Chickens, not teenagers. I have 5 Ameraucana laying hens that are just shy of 5 months old. One has always been the dominant hen. She pecks at me when I reach in to change their water.

 BUT, I'm afraid "she" may be a "he". Its been many years since I last kept chickens and I've slept since then so I don't remember everything I should. This large chicken has a much larger comb and holds her tail much higher than the others. "She" has also begun to bully a smaller hen, Martha.

While potentially having a rooster is a separate issue, I need to figure out what to do for poor Martha. She is hiding in the coop and can't even get a drink without being jumped on.

Please post any input you feel may be helpful. Thanks.

Breathless

Its summer and I'm breathless. Partly because the heat has been oppressive. But mostly because this is such a busy time of year.

The garden is producing nicely, lots of tomatoes and peppers (I see a salsa canning session in my near future),cantaloupes ripening on the vine, cucumbers are coming along and the zucchini are taking over

I promised y'all a report on the great sheet mulch experiment and...TA DAH...here it is.

 Initially I cut the grass very short. Then covered the area completely with thick layers of cardboard. I piled layers of straw, compost and a little garden soil on top before covering the whole thing in a thick layer of straw.

Results were mixed. I planted Red Norland potatoes where the green beans are now (far right). The potatoes were surface planted in a straw/compost mix on top of cardboard. Yield was very low as blight moved in and I had to harvest before the taters all turned to goo. I'm not sure whether this was from this planting technique or because Red Norland is mildly susceptible to blight. Anyway, the sheet mulch had little effect on the bermuda grass. After the potatoes I planted pole beans in this bed. They are doing well but the grass is impossible to control.

The next area to the left is where I planted Petit Gris de Rennes cantaloupe. I did the same sheet mulch technique, then piled on some composted manure and black plastic mulch. I made long raised rows with swales between the rows before placing the plastic. Poked lots of holes in the plastic with a small kitchen knife. Very cathartic. I let this bed sit for two weeks to settle and for the soil to warm up, then cut small holes in the plastic and planted two seeds every 3 feet with rows 2 feet apart. I know this is closer than the seed companies suggest but I wanted the black plastic to be completely covered so my plants don't cook in the Swampeast Missouri sun. The results in this bed are howling success. The plants are so happy I think they're trying to take over the neighbor's yard, too. My teenager calls the cantaloupe plants "Godzilla". Oh, and I spaced out a few old bricks in the swales so I would have a place to step without crushing the vines.

To the far left, hard to see in this photo is where I planted oats, then mustard, corn and zucchini. This bed did not do well. The mulch didn't keep the grass out but was difficult to keep moist enough for the oats. Won't do that again.
Final results. Sheet mulch is very effective for areas where plastic mulch will also be used. I would use this technique for potatoes, melons, sweet potatoes and perhaps squash.

Its been a very busy Spring and Summer and I have so much more to tell you about. But not today.

Yay! 20% off Heirloom seeds at www.hometownseeds.com

Hello y'all. Its been awhile since I posted anything. Spring went zooming by and Summer caught me unawares. I'll be posting photos of the garden soon, with the results of the 2010 Sheet Mulch Experiment.

I wanted to take the chance to introduce you to a new supplier I've found.  Hometown Seeds sells a wide variety of Open Pollinated Garden Seeds.

Here's my favorite of all the cool stuff they sell.   Survival Seed Bank


They also have a family sized version called Survival Seeds with 16 open pollinated heirloom varieties. The best part is the packet of growing instructions included with the pack. I like having so much information about the seeds I plant and now I know just what to expect.

Right now they are offerring a 20% discount on all of their products to all of us eco geeks.  By entering the coupon code thanks, 20% will be reduced from the total cost of any order.  The code will be good through July 31, 2010.

I'm taking the opportunity to stock up while all my favorites are still available.