A family farm

Friday, April 30, 2010

Chickens

Our chicken coop is finally mostly finished ... finished enough to let the chickens into it without much fear of them being able to get out. We are waiting for a whitefish net to go over the top. Right now we have orange snow-fence put together over the top. It's rather bright. We're getting about 6 eggs per day from the 8 chickens, which I think is pretty good. I'm amazed at my husband's building ability, however. You should see the door from the coop to my garden! Can I just say Wow! It really is quite something.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Chickens!

We now have a total of 8 chickens. 6 are ISA Browns and 2 are Ameraucaunas. The coop is not yet finished. Our 2x4s weren't long enough Saturday, so we had to get more after visiting people in the hospital. A friend of ours had a stroke and Chris' sister-in-law is also in ICU. We did go to that sale in Fremont, however, and because of the foul weather, it was a bust. There wasn't much there. So we went to the Ravenna auction where I got a number, but we had to get to Grant to buy chickens at 12:30, so we missed out on the plants and part of the chicken sale at the auction. When we got back to the auction after picking up 6 chickens from Grant, they were auctioning off chicks, ducklings and baby turkeys. They hadn't gotten to the chickens, but there was so much to go before that we decided to go home, drop off our new chickens and have some lunch. Oh, I did forget to mention that we had farm fresh fried eggs for breakfast! They are so very good!!! I don't know what those white things are we have in the fridge ... they don' taste right! I had a good look in the garden, too, and I have peas, spinach and romaine popped up as well. After all the work we did on the coop, we have a fantastic door from the chicken coop to the garden, and we're ready to work on more. We are out of chicken fence, so we have to buy more. In fact, if our original chickys had their wings clipped, we would be able to let them out into the new part, but our 2 originals can fly. Enough.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Hello Spring!

My onions are popping up! Woo Hoo! Hopefully over the next couple of days I'll see some lettuce, spinach and peas. I'm going to plant turnips and carrots this weekend. I also have to move my blueberry bushes. We're still working on the outside of the chicken coop and hopefully this weekend we'll have that finished up as well so I can rescue an iris that they have practically pecked to death. We're going to a farm sale at Newago county fairgrounds in Fremont this weekend as well and hopefully we'll be able to buy a couple more chickens. I also have to make a screen of some sort for my strawberries. I need to keep the wild birds off from them! I have to use my Home Depot coupon this weekend and pick up 2 trees. I'm not sure what they'll be. Probably a maple and a flowering pear. Does anyone know if a flowering pear bear fruit?

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Mystery Plants in the Herb Garden

My mystery plants are hostas! They had to have gone dormant last year because I never would have planted my chives where they are if there were hostas there. In fact, i moved ALL my hostas to beside the shed (and a couple in front of the house). My chives are planted one foot apart and between them sets a hosta! Just one of those white-edged, green ones. So I'll have to transplant them both later this week. Whew! Lots to do! I have to finish the chicken pen, too.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Down on the Farm

We picked up 2 chickens for free yesterday, so my fantastic daughter and I finished setting up the chicken coop. We have ISA Brown hens. Chris already plucked an egg out of the coop and cooked it up for lunch. His facebook says it was delicious! I'm a bit jealous. The 2 hens seem happy with their limited surroundings. We have to finish up a fence and a gate to the garden. After watching them last night, I now know why you wouldn't want them in a garden with young plants. They really scratch up the dirt getting at worms and other bugs just under the surface. I can hardly wait to see them pluck hornworms off my tomatoes!!!!!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Can They Do That?

I just figured out what the 2 mystery plants are in my herb garden. They are hostas! The green kind with the white edges! I don't remember planting them there this past year. I may have when we moved in because I was in such a hurry to get the plants I brought over from the house we rented and get them into the ground. Actually I know I didn't plant them there last year because one of the hostas is in between 2 chive plants, and when I say it is in between the two chive plants, I mean it is so close to both of them that it would have not made any sense to have planted it there. Not a hosta, anyway. So I have to move them to the east side of the shed. Those hostas haven't come up yet. I am a bit concerned. The butterfly bush over there also hasn't budded yet. My sage hasn't come up and neither has the thyme. It should, tho. There are other things that just haven't poked through yet. It is a bit early. The columbine looks fantastic! I can't wait to get my other columbine planted, but I'm not entirely sure where it is going to go. I think I'm going to have to move the established columbine as well to make room for more herbs. We'll see. I may just leave that right where it is at. I have to bring my rototiller over to my brother's house to have it repaired so I can till the soil along the house for the other part of the herb garden. And this weekend I have to move the blueberry bushes out of the back yard so Luke doesn't pee on them anymore. Harley likes to eat the branches as well. They destroyed 1 blueberry bush and another is much shorter than the remaining 4. Only one good dog, I suppose --- Kayleigh!

Monday, April 12, 2010

What a Wonderful Weekend!!!!

Yesterday had to have been one of the most beautiful days I've experienced this spring!! I know spring hasn't come close to passing, but this is the best spring I've experienced in my life! I usually hate spring because my spring fever gets way out of control. But not this year! Yesterday I enjoyed singing in praise team, church was fantastic, the brunch after church was delicious and Chris' preaching at the Hume Home was great! Then we went home. Lily still hasn't had her baby(ies) yet. Poor kid. But beyond that, Chris grilled venison tenderloins. We also had baked potatoes and asparagus ... OUTSIDE!!!! we ate at the picnic table. I think that is the first time we've eaten there since we got it. We usually eat on the deck, but we haven't put the deck furniture out yet because it needs staining. Then we did a little work on my rototiller, which is just not working. But I decided I'd get some hoe-ing done anyway. Kellie and I worked up 1/3 of the garden and planted peas, onions, spinach and romaine. Then she and I went and walked around the property to peruse stuff we planted last year that. The apple trees are sprouting leave. I think the deer pruned them well. I'm not touching them. The grapes haven't started yet, but I don't think I've seen anybody's started yet. My hostas haven't pushed thru yet, and I'm a bit concerned. We'll see in a couple of weeks. The butterfly bush also doesn't look like much of anything yet. The raspberries and blackberries all have sprouts of greenery - YUM! And then up front, all of the new shrubs are getting ready to put forth leaves. The Black Lace Elderberry bush is going to be pretty!!! The leaves are so dark! And I was ready to get Kellie braced for her hydrangea bush because I hadn't seen any buds on it yet ... until last night!!! It's going to be fine! Yesterday was an absolutely fantastic day!