Cohabitants

Kathy and Eleanore are gracefully sharing their sweet hen house with a few other winged creatures.

Black Ninja Darting Moths.

I have a feeling that is not what they are regarded as in scientific-flying-insect circles. Although... I might just circulate a petition.

Forgetfulness

It has its perks...

...Such as this gladiola. Or these gladiolus? I'm not sure how many are there. I don't remember planting them and I'm pretty certain they weren't there last year. But I'm happy its there now.

Also, every once in a while, I will have a conversation with someone who reads my blog. I tend to forget that I have an audience and am immediately suspicious that they are stalking my chickens... and then I remember I wrote about it and shared it publicly.

 

Eleanore

(That's not really true. I know if anybody is stalking my birds, it's a critter that wants to eat them. But I have been caught off guard a time or two - What? How did you kn...Ohhhhhh right.)

Twist and Shout

I picked my first cucumber the other day. I used the same method I use when picking zucchini or squash: grab the veggie and twist up near the stem of the plant. Sometimes I come accross a pricker, but they are nothing compared to what is on a cucumber before it is ripe.

Hence, the shout!

Good News

"Good news!" I told Aaron after returning from the coop to find Kathy and Eleanore unharmed, "the gun turret won't be necessary."

After I told Aaron about waking up in the middle of the night to the sounds of predators making a ruckus, he suggested adding a gun turret to the impenetrable fortress.

It was one of those times where I was not sure if I woke up because I heard the noise or if I heard the noise because I woke up. Either way, it didn't sound like dogs and I was worried for my flock. (if you can call two chickens a flock).

So I am happy to report all is well on the mini-farm.

Humbled

I was having a fat day Saturday. If you are male, you may not have experienced this. However, if there is a lady in your life, you've probably been around it. If you are female and you don't know what I am talking about - lucky you is the nicest thing I can say.

I started my day in Lycra and spandex - not really materials that make me feel my best. (My sister-in-law and I were going for a swim and then a bike ride.) I was grumpy leaving the house and kept tugging at my top which would ride up over my hip fat and reveal the pudge.

After my shower I put on a shirt that I swear didn't use to fit like that. Amazingly, I didn't tear it off and throw it across the room. I did some house work - probably complaining to myself about how I hate doing dishes and wondering how long those leftovers had been in the fridge...

Later in the afternoon my mom and I went out and about and stopped for a light dinner at a fast food restaurant. I know what you are thinking. "You're having a fat day and you went to fast food? No wonder!" (We had salads thank you very much.)

While we were there an older couple walked in with winter coats on. They both had gray hair and seemed frail. They sat in a booth next to us just going on about their day. I tried to see what they had ordered without really staring. It didn't look like much.

I went up the counter and asked the cashier if they came in often. She said they did. "Do you think they are homeless?" She said she thought so, but that they drove a car. I asked if they sold gift cards and stopped whining about my ill-fitting exercise-wear and the chores to keep up my air conditioned home.

Matters of Size

I took waaaay longer than necessary editing this photo of the giant zucchini and pint glass. Probably anytime spent at all would have been too much for the point being made: Look at the size of that Zucchini!

But I enjoyed every minute of it.

Zwiebeln

Zwiebeln - the German trasnlation for onions. It is one of the few words I remember from our trip to Switzerland. If I remember correctly, it should be pronounced like this: ZVEEbeln.

This is the result from the half of an onion I threw in the lasagna garden compost and then transferred to the worm box and then back to the lasagna garden.

We didn't eat it. I don't know if it was ready to pick for eating. But it was falling over and starting to uproot, so I pulled it up and took a picture.

Oyster Shells

Oyster shells, the answer to all of your weak shell problems.

Ah ha!

"Thin egg shells are observed when calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D3 are not provided in diets at adequate levels. It is more often observed during periods of hot weather because calcium is conserved and retained within the hen's body less efficiently." 

- Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station


I had a bag of oyster shell gravel that I occasionally mixed in with the pellet so I mixed some more in. I was under the impression that the shells aided in digestion, but I guess they are more of a calcium supplement. So far so good.

Coping

A couple of weeks ago, my mind was put at ease. No, sadly Violet did not reappear. However, I am glad to know and report that she was loved. At first I was skeptical. I believed that my neighbor's dogs were miserable and needed to be saved. The truth is they just weren't as spoiled as I would have liked. Charlie has no idea how good he has it.

There is a small memorial in the backyard. A circle of stones around a plant, and a home made, hand drawn card. The picture is of Violet in the shade of the tree on a clear blue day. Inside, scrawled in crayon, it reads "We love you, Violet" along with all the names of the family.

I cried telling Aaron about it.

I still miss her.

Crack Under Pressure

Have you ever held an egg in one hand and just squeezed?

You know how it doesn't break?

Well this one crackled as soon as I touched it.

It is also a lighter color than any other egg from Kathy and Eleanore.

I went to throw it in the woods, it cracked some more before it left my hand and then, instead of following a nice arch through the sky it just kind of fell.

I'm not real sure what this means.
I'm looking into it.

There just aren't words...

...the things that find their way to my inbox...

Zucchini by Candlelight

Amusing myself during a power outage... which by the way, is out again.



It's too bad I can't rotate this now. I'd really like the top left to be the bottom right. Or maybe not.



Which one of these is not like the other?

So. That's my produce.

(and an interesting/decent shot of tea lights if I do say so myself)

The Coop Remains

Although I had imagined that I could turn this:

into this:

I am happily surprised by the robustness of the shanty. It is standing as strong as it was when I first brought the ladies home, even through this rash of high wind, heavy rain, storms we have been getting.

However, I just happened to come across this beauty.

So, given some time and more motivation than should be necessary, Kathy and Eleanore might see this in their future.

ConsumptYum

The battery charger for my camera is still packed in the backpack we took to New York City. Otherwise, this sentence would be a nice picture of home grown produce on the kitchen table. Zucchinis and Squash to be exact.

Aaron fixed dinner last night (that is a pretty regular occurence) and decided to throw some zucchini into the mix. At first I doubted the tastiness of the combination, but it turned out great. (We were having carribean jerk marinated chicken and pineapple if you were wondering. )

All of my eggs...

...in one basket.

My memory isn't real clear on this, but I am pretty sure this fine wire basket came with the house. As in, it was left behind. My mom thought it was pretty nice and encouraged me to put it to use. Most of the time I just carry the eggs back to the house in my hands or whatever empty vessel I happen to have with me after dispensing food/water. Sometimes they end up in a pocket.

When my mom was taking care of Kathy and Eleanore she used the pocket method. Since she often walked over with her dog, she needed to be able to hold the leash. Apparently, not every egg made the long voyage unharmed.

This morning, donned in my polka-dot boots, I collected 4 eggs and carried them home in the wire basket for the first time. I don't think it will be the last. It certainly was easier than juggling eggs and a door knob!

Squarsh

Just felt like throwing an "R" in there.

Oh man! I forgot to get a picture of the foliage on these zucchini and yellow squash.

It is incredible. One leaf could completely shade, say, a rabbit!

Actually, one rabbit tends to flee from the squarsh jungle every time I water it.

 Just a couple more days until Zucchini Bread! Mmmmmmmmmmmmn.

I apologize for the hurried manner of the photographs. I took them this a.m. before work and the battery in my camera was running low. I just felt the blog needed some pictures, it has been a couple days.

The Economics of Eggs

I just returned from Tractor Supply, where I bought my 3rd bag of layer pellet.

1 - 50 lb bag costs $16.45 after tax, tag and title. (Ok, just tax)
2 - 50 lb bags cost $32.90.

Guess how many eggs were laid with just 100 lbs of feed?
About 330 since the first egg in November.
That is a little over 10¢ an egg.
So for a dozen, $1.20.

For a dozen "cage-free" eggs the price is around $3.00.
And just to let you know, I am never so cruel as to cage my eggs. What?! I suppose you are expected to infer the hens are not kept in cages, but that is not what the name suggests.

Dwight charges $1.50 for a dozen of eggs from his flock.  (He used to charge $2.00.)

I don't charge anything, but I don't turn down baked good barters either.

I have no idea what a dozen large, white, grocery store, house name, eggs cost anymore. They never make it on the grocery list anymore.

Fill-in Farmer

While Aaron, my dad, and myself were on vacation, my mom took care of the mini-farm.

Kathy and Eleanore were very pleased with her attentiveness to their food and water. They told me themselves.

The plants in the yard were also very grateful to her for watering them. You should see the size of the zucchini plants now! The second round of cucumbers are coming in nicely too.

Thanks, Mom!

Charlie dog spent the week with Eric, Olivia, Ally and Myles dog.

Pretty much everything seemed to be in order when we got home.

Sadly, I have not seen my girl Violet. Maybe I really was the only one that loved her...

Checking In

 Last Thursday, Aaron, my dad and myself got in the car before dawn and started driving to CT. This is the house we stayed in while there. Beautiful New England. (Thanks Dan and Marianne!)

 Aaron ran his first 1/2 Iron distance triathlon of the year at Rev3 Quassy. I got to finish with him.

Aaron and I took a train into NYC.

 

On our way back to TN, we stopped in Pottsville, PA to tour America's Oldest Brewery. (My dad smiled as soon as I put the camera down.)

One more stop in Glade Spring, VA to Giardino's. Amazingly, calzones and cannolis were spared by the recent tornadoes.

ArithMAYtic

46 eggs for the month of May. 

At first that number doesn't seem quite right. 

Maybe I missed a few tally marks here and there. 

This evening, though - no eggs.

It is HOT...

maybe Kathy and Eleanore just need to get acclimated.

I know I do. 

0 Traumatic events for the month of May.

That is pretty good considering the kind of weather we have been having.

As in: Stormy. Tornadic even!

8+ new visitors to the coop in one day.

City dwellers are particularly interested in how agricultural animals are kept within the city limits.