Sunday, June 24, 2012

An Over-Achiever in the Yard

This morning I found this in the egg box!

I couldn't believe the size, it is 3" from end to end and 6 1/2" around the middle.  I only know that it was from one of the Ameraucana hens.  I tried to set it in an extra large carton and it only sets on the top of the slot.  I will be interested to see if it has a double yoke...........



Midnight found himself a nice cool spot to plant himself this morning,



We had thunderstorms late yesterday afternoon and took away the humidity, it is a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  Time to go outside and enjoy the rest of the day.





Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Chickens, Roosters, and a Garden.........

Here's what has been keeping me busy.
The loam pile is now spread and the new home to these lovely additions.........................
Not the best picture, but you get the idea, I currently have tomatoes, onions, green beans, carrots, pumpkins, butternut squash, summer squash, broccoli, cabbage, radishes, green onions, picklers and some flowers around the edges!  I am taking notes, and suspect this area will be a work in progress for a few years, as a matter of fact the garden will get larger next year, but I had to start somewhere!

I added some herbs to the small garden area I used last year thanks to a fellow quilting friend.
The grapes are doing well, I planted some tansy under them hoping that would help with the Japanese beetles (they are in the background of the photo above).  My rhubarb is also happy, I have been picking some, but since several of the plants are still only a year old I need to be careful not to over pick.  I am also excited that I have asparagus, can't wait to harvest in the coming years, I think I will probably add several more plants in the spring.


There have been a few changes in the chicken yard as well, we added four new girls, they are 5 month old Golden Comets..................

I decided that I needed to find Rudy a new home, he was wonderful with his "two" girls, but not very nice to the other hens, this meant that I was unable to open the door between the two yards and limited the yard area.  You are handsome Rudy, hope you like the girls at your new home................

My husband and I thought it would be a good idea to find a young rooster that would "grow up" and like all the girls so we found this five month old barred rock rooster, his name is George.  The people we got him from said he was starting to crow, haven't heard him yet, as a matter of fact one of our sons is wondering if he might be a she, time will tell.  Right now there's a lot of "hen pecking" going on, but we figured that it would be better to have all the chaos at once since it will probably cause a few days of less eggs, better to have that happen once instead of twice.  Here's George hiding from the girls, it is so difficult to allow nature to follow its course but in the long run it will be worth it (I hope).  I have to admit that this morning I decided to give George a bit of a break and put him and the youngest girls, "the Comets" in a pen by themselves so the would be less stressed today, the temps are in the 90's. 

Hoping to share what I've been up to in the sewing room soon, here's a hint The Farmer's Wife and hand piecing!