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Chickens are HOT!
Chickens are all the rage. Urban, suburban and rural homeowners from every part of the country are ordering chickens in all sorts of fancy breeds. Competition over the cutest coops is escalating rapidly and people are signing up for classes on how to raise healthy and happy flocks in smaller spaces!
Why the sudden craz
e? Home-raised chickens, like homegrown vegetables seem to put
us in touch with a past of a more rural nature. Besides providing food
they give us a sense of self-sufficiency. Whatever the urge to gather the feathered flock it
recalls a simpler time when
we are more connected with nature and our food as part of it. Let me
comment on the ‘simpler’ statement. After all is said and done it’s much
simpler to go to the grocery store and buy a dozen eggs notwithstanding
there’s a much better use for a Jacuzzi tub than as an abode for a
small flock of chicks. But so much less satisfying! Our gardening
advisor Jeff Oberhaus suggested that by the time he deducts the cost of his
chickens, feed and hen-house
his eggs cost him about $9.00 a dozen! And he has to collect them
himself!
One chicken will lay an average of 300 eggs in a twelve month period.
With four chickens it looks as though I can anticipate twenty three eggs
a week. Since I would never consume that many it's a great way to
share with family and friends or sell at the local farmers market.
My main goal, as with the garden itself, is the higher quality of food value, the organic nature of raising my own produce, and the future independence it can bring. The nutrition benefits are outstanding. In contrast to grocery store eggs, home-raised eggs have twenty-five percent more vitamin E, seventy-five percent more beta-carotene, significantly more omega-3 fatty acids and a third more vitamin A.
So, The Author’s Garden gains
four chicks and I delve into research to learn what I need to know. I'll
give you all a heads up on the books I find most informative. Stay
tuned for more adve
ntures with Henrietta, Blackie,
Priscilla and Dot and their benefits to the garden. In the meantime the Jack Russell’s are scheming and dreaming
about take-out chicken!
More about the coop design and
how it fits into the garden in future blogs!
Photos by Susan R. Stoltz copyright 2010
I have a blog. PLEASE go see....
http://blogonthefarmandgar
den.blogspot.com
Today I g
ot
to do something special. I made a salad out of two of the products I
grew myself in pots on the veranda. Sugar Snap Peas and Parsley. I
added more than that, but WOW. I grew part of this salad! Now I realize
that this article is coming at the beginning of this garden adventure
as opposed to the end, but as you are aware,
I began this exploration with container gardening, and this is the last
of the harvest. So I just had to share a few photos and the recipe with
you today. As I put another bite
into my mouth I’m proud of the fact I used no chemical fertilizer or
pest control. I did bring the pots in at night when the weather didn’t
cooperate, but hey. They’re containers. I can do that.
This recipe is not one of my own. It’s from a book called The Brilliant Bean – Sophisticated Recipes for the World’s Healthiest Food by Sally and Martin Stone. It’s no longer in print; however you can buy some used copies from Amazon.
Delish
and so nutrish!!
Soon it will be time to take that special walk, you know the walk I mean. The walk where we look for that first spring bulb to peak through the still half frozen ground. Walking around the garden seeing very few signs of life, then seeing a few crocus starting to bloom, that is such a thrill after the dreary winter.
Then a couple of weeks later we discover the daffodils glowing in the sun. Wow, now that says “springtime” to me. The winter doldrums are gone and we are full of optimism again. It’s still quite chilly outside, but now we can feel that late winter sun on our skin. It’s just a little warmer, just a little brighter. I love it! All of this will be happening several weeks from now where I live.
Yes, walking the garden in the spring is such a delight. We know what we planted, but we still seem so surprised when in starts to emerge from the good earth. After the daffodils are up we start looking for the tulips. Those bright jewels of the garden shining under the blue sky. I can’t wait, and I know you can’t either.
So let’s get our boots ready, it will be wet and muddy out there. Set them next to the back door where they will be waiting. I’m ready to take that first spring walk, and my boots are ready too.
Best Wishes to All, Rick
Wow! It has been soo long since I have posted a blog on here. My computer had to get revamped and the person who did it took off my home pages.. which garden guides was one of! Then life was happening and things have been crazy!!
So, anyway, our garden is looking really good this year! The peacocks (from next door) has stayed until last week! Then they seemed to remember that we have a garden. So it have been all of on "peacock patrol" all during the day!! The like the early morning hours so far, so it is usually me and my bright green bath robe that has to go out and yell and wave my arms around.. with my hair is all directions...see I have not even been in the shower yet!! LOL
We have already been getting some good sized zuccini, and radishes!! Our corn did not get too tall, but has already flowered, and so we have been going and and "sexting" the corn plants!! My partner laughs when she tells me that she "sexed" the corn plants!! she did not believe me at first, that if you want the insure that you get corn, just go out and collect the flower seeds (or whatever they are called on corn plants) and sprinkle them down the plants so that the seeds go down in between the leaf and the stalk, but, we have cobs already growing!!!
The strawberries that I planted two years ago, have decided to give us some berries this year! Have had to harvest every couple of days!!! My dad, goes out and harvests, and then he makes strawberry short cakes!! yumm, yumm!!
I even noticed that my current has some berries!! Though at a foot tall the plant wont be able to give me too many berries at once.
We have pumpkins, cucumbers, zuccini, straight-neck squach, crooked-neck squash, onions, garlic, carrots, radishes.. lots!!
Well, I think that I rambled enough for now!
Later
DragonLady ~Tina~
Out in the garden tonight planting a few saved tomato plants from the local grower. Real cheap (4 packs less than a dollar). Some are Roma and the others are Golden Girl. I now have about 40 tomato plants in the garden.. I definately will be making alot of spaghetti sauce this year. Mixing all the tomatoes together will make the perfect color and flavor. The Roma are best for thickening the sauce. My husband used to buy Prego before I was here and now he won't eat any sauce but mine... The only problem is that I cook to taste and I really can give the recipe to anyone. My mother-in-law doesn't understand how I can cook without recipes... A lot of experience over the years and I guess it is stuck in my head. I cook more home made than she does.....
My daughter helped a little in between her adventures with a planter, seeds and the last of my potting soil. She planted lettuce and parsley. Sat it in the garden so it could get watered with the rest of it. She wants to make a rabbit trap so our bunny can have a friend..Cute!!!!
I had to remove a few branches from the tree behind the garden for the sprinkler to hit all the veggies...It has grown over the garden and next week when I am off work on Tuesday my son is coming out to cut a few branches around the garden so the sun can get in better...We didn't have a good spot that gets sun all day to put our garden in...
Well, then it started to get dark and I had to get her out of the pool and clean up my garden tools. Turned on the sprinkler and now need to remember to turn it off before I go to bed. Everyone have a good night and keep gardening... Veggie
http://cluttermommy.b
logspot.com/
I have so much to write and so many pictures to post since my internet hasn't been working too well the past 2-3 weeks.
Here it goes, my attempt at updating you all on the past 2-3 weeks worth of going-on's......
(Above: Hannah and a little green frog. She loves frogs!)
(Above: Hannah and I before going into the surgery room where I held her until she fell asleep from the anesthesia.)
(Above: Hannah the day after the surgery.)
(Above: Hannah, Kyle, Mitch, Luke, Pink .22 and a dead raccoon - what fun.....)
(Above: My garden before the ransacking)
(Above: Hannah and I posing in the park at the "Fat Cat Festival")
(Above: Hannah and Kyle posing in the park at the "Fat Cat Festival")
(Above: A crazy picture of Hannah a few days before her surgery)
(Above: My sweet little girl happy as a clam in the bath 2 days after the surgery)i was cooking up some brunswick stew -out of a can of course - for dinner last night, and i started thinking.... what does brunswick stew have in it? vegetables. (yum!)
i looked down into the pot of stew, and realized i recognized the foodstuffs... corn, beans, tomatoes, squash.... and familiar herbs. i started thinking - and of course the stuff managed to burn while i was distracted - that, when my garden starts producing everything, i can make my own brunswick stew. from scratch. and since brunswick stew is among my top 10 favorite meals, that's a really good thing.
then, after dinner, i thought more on the matter. i could - can soon - make tons of dishes from scratch. Fried green tomatoes, tomato soup, squash casserole, stuffed peppers, stuffed squash blossoms, watermelon soup, veggie chili... the possibilities are endless. as i playing solitaire, a whole world of homemade foodstuffs opened up before my eyes. i was ecstatic. who knows what i can make now. since homemade food is almost always better than storebought, i could eat better... and i'm always bored with my typical set of ten or fifteen rotated meals. hmm... experimentation. *evil glint in eyes*
well, that is, i can cook these, if i can figure out how to cook. oh, and if i can get those cursed pests off my plants...
but still. my realization was a nice euphoria. and... it can happen. eventually.
my garden has finally taken off! the squash have already produced, thanks to the plentiful rain, and EVERYTHING has blossoms. my herbs, too, have done excellently. (fresh mint tea... yum) i got really excited when i saw the first blossoms on my watermelon...
but.
anybody have any suggestions? i can't put up a fence for deer (already tried that) but i need other ideas...
so sadly last friday while i was at work and my 13 yr. old niece was babysitting my girls...our dog, molly, got a hold of mumbles and killed him and a hen...i am so heartbroken...mumbles was such a good rooster....luckily we do have a baby rooster and 2 more females....no other rooster is going to be like him...we will miss him terribly...
update on wilbur...we are getting rid of him....he will be going to a nice farm with a lady friend :) where he will be much happier...
here are some pics of my garden...
cherry tomatoes....
veggie garden with green onions, hot peppers, green peppers, tomatoes, asparagus, lemon cucumber, & butternut squash...
strawberry plants...15...and in the pot at the end is clilantro...
close up of one of the strawberries...yum, yum...can't keep the birds from eating them...tried hanging pie tins with no luck...any suggestions...
I spotted a purple finch today, and got a great photo,' isn't he beautiful. This is my first time trying to upload photos to my blog, so I hope all goes well. Today I am fighting a really bad sinus headache, something bad must be in the air. I have been doing a lot of work in my garden, so look for lots of new photos as I get them in. It is hot and beautiful her in San Antonio today.
Hi, welcome to my first blog entry ! I have decided to try this as kind of a therapy for myself. I recently loss my mother and best friend so I am just searching for things to keep my mind busy, so bear with me as some of these entries may seem crazy. But I am going to try and keep them positive. I will do my best...so on that note..
I can't wait to get outside and start of my garden. Tomorrow I am planting my potatoes, they will be a little late but better late than never. We have lived here many years and I have never gotten around to doing any landscaping around are home as we have so much yard to contend with that its all we can do to keep it mowed. So'ooo this year I am finally doing it. I decided to just keep it real and do what I like and not what I think others would like. I think I want to do it kind of old school and not so formal . I have a dinner bell at the end of our porch and I want to play that up a little bit. Hubby just got me a mantis so that will help me tons ! I think I will take some before and after pics and share with you all. Could be interesting ! Well, until the next entry..enjoy life and spend all the time you can with your loved ones..you would be suprised at the little things you can just let go, that really are not that important...let some things roll and don't sweat the small stuff ! God bless you, I hope you can have a positive day just loving life.
When I was about 16, I had made some hair sticks and barrettes and things using pheasant feathers and was selling them. There was one barrette that I absolutely hated and it ended up on my closet floor. My mom was the type that when she got tired of looking at something (like my messy closet) she would wait until I was gone and out of her way and she would clean it herself. It was one of those days when she got into my closet while I was away to school. She found that stupid barrette and took it to work and sold it to someone for $20.00. Since then I have realized that what might not be great to me, might be awesome to others. The last two days have proven to produce some substandard stuff. Partially maybe because my heart wasn't really into it, partially because I am in panic mode after loosing my job last Friday, partially because I have to share welding space with my mechanic husband and we have been stepping on each other's toes lately space wise. I figured I would put the new stuff out there and see if they get some loves...
This one. Well, the truth of the matter is, my hands were tired from twisting the 2-strand wire, so I decided to do one using 1 strand. It was so much easier on my hands, but way more difficult to weld and no matter how low I went, I was still blowing holes through my wire. I have a couple spots that are particularly globby, but after a clean and paint job, I guess it's sell-able. I think another thing that kind of gets me with this one is that I just could not call it quits with the swirls. I was like an addict...just 1 more! Just one more swirly bit right here! One more!!! Eh, I am such a nerd. This butterfly would do very well in a weird Pink Floyd-type video...
My thoughts were a key to the secret garden-type thing. I mean really, if your going to have a magical garden of magic-ness, you need a big honking, completely over-the-top key to open the door with right? I struggle with this not really because I hate it, but more because I had originally wanted to make it into a wind chime, but after just seeing it alone I kind of want to leave it plain and call it a wall hanging. Thoughts from the peanut gallery?
This sunflower and I have this love/hater relationship with each other. It definitely would love to be a garden floof hanging on the wall somewhere while, I seriously wonder what my 10-year-old-son spiked the kool aid with. I guess if I step back and look at it with internet eyes it really isn't that bad. After all I am my own worst critic, though I'm sure there was a few hours last Sunday that I must have been tripping on flux core because I completely lost any recollection of making this thing. I wonder if it came up before or after the psychedelic butterfly? Hmm.
They are all going on my site. I'm going to laugh if they all sell this week...
I promised I would post the bird feeder that I had worked on all weekend and it's finally done. I just love how it turned out and it's over the top enough to let everyone know who made it lol! Anyway, here it is, the peacock--
Oh the sunny wonderful day...and the lawn mower. Now that the ground has has a chance to dry out for a couple of days, the neighborhood is alive with the sounds of lawn mowers and weed eaters. Everyone is out taking advantage of the wonderful weather.
This will be the second time our lawn has been mowed this year, and really should be the third or fouth...but we missed a couple of days last month.
I have always felt that there is nothing like a freshly mowed lawn to make the garden look better. A nice neat lawn lets the eye wander to the garden undistracted, allowing the eye to enjoy the pleasure of the flowers.
The mowing of the lawn is why I ended up with my gardens. Our backyard has a big hill and it was difficult to mow and weed eat, so my husband suggested we turn it into a garden. After that was done, he decided that the front yard was too much work, so that flower bed got bigger. He is actually trying to convince me to get rid of the front lawn all together, turn it into big garden with a patio to sit on...although I am not sure if I am up to that much work.
We shall see, but for now the lawn is mowed and the flower beds look great. Happiness on a warm spring day.
Well just when I thought the weather was starting to break it got cold again. Hopefully soon I will be able to start working the soil in my garden so I can get the season started.
I'm planning to add a new variety of seedless tomatoes this year to my vegetalbe garden. We'll see how they turn out.
Between Thursday, Friday and today (Saturday), I feel as though I got a good start on the garden. Here's what happened so far.
Hand turned about 2/3 of the garden. Managed to get the radishes, onions, and peas in yesterday. Today I finished planting the lettuces. Here's what I put in today:
• Lettuce Salad Bowl (Lake Valley™ brand) - matures in 50 days
• Mesclun Salad Mix (Burpee® brand) - matures in 48 days
› 15% Black Seeded Simpson
› 15% Red Salad Bowl
› 15% Lollo Rossa
› 15% Royal Oak Leaf
› 20% Arugula Rocket
› 20% Radicchio Verona
• Tom Thumb Letuce Butterhead (Burpee® brand) - matures in 65 days
• Mesclun Zesty Salad Mixture (Lake Valley™ brand) - matures in 45 days
› 25% Tango
› 15% Lola Rossa
› 15% Black Seeded Simpson
› 15% Deer Tongue Red
› 15% Royal Oak Leaf
› 5% Arugula
› 5% Frisee
› 5% Mizuna
• Lettuce Simpson Black Seeded (Lake Valley™ brand) - matures in 45 days
Later I was able to put out seed for Violas and transplant some of my seedlings. Here are some pictures:
Yellow Pear Tomatoes, Garlic Chives
Garlic Chives and Sweet Marjoram
Dill, Patio Tomatoes, and one Celebrity Tomato
Also cut some of the Forsythia to bring inside for some color. They should start to bloom in the next 5-6 days. I am so excited about Spring 2009!
Alright, so I've been neglecting the blogging terribly; I do apologize. I have much news, however, so hopefully I will make it up to those who are lovely and read my rambling nonsense.
Since December, I've put the Vertigrow system up, built, filled, and wormed my 8x8 double-stacked bed, and have organized my "general gardening village". The garden bed is in a horseshoe shape; the back or "arch" of the square horseshoe is 8ft long while the "arms" of the horseshoe are 8ft long by 2ft wide. Then there's a single-layer bed built INSIDE the horseshoe shape or my crawler crops. They have free range. ^___^
What have I planted, you ask? Oh my. I'll start the list below according to where I've planted it.
VertiGrow = Bell peppers, hungarian peppers, four-way hybrids, and jalapenos on one column. Strawberries (Quinlot and Sequoa) on another column. Roma, hybrid, beefsteak, and celebrity tomatoes on one column.
(The other columns are undecided.. any suggestions? I have two columns left to fill with four squares in each that hold four plants per square.)
Horseshoe Planter = Silver Queen corn (in the "arms" of the horsehoe), bush beans, brussel sprouts, collards.
Inner Horseshoe Planter = Brussels, collards, squash.
Large Circle Planters = Cucumbers w/trellis, lettuce, green beans(bush variety). (One crop per planter.)
Mulberry Tree Box Planter = Turnips, carrots.
Single Box Planter = Peas.
In the Ground in Various Locations = Pumpkins, canteloupe, watermelon, okra, honeydew, pear, apples.
Still in Their Own Planters = Pecan, avocado, lychee, pawpaws, passion fruit, pineapple, blueberries.
Laundry Basket = potatoes, peanuts.
Aquarium = Garlic.
I still have three varieties of grapes on the way, in the mail, and different types of lima beans, in the mail (I couldn't find a bag of the kind I wanted at the local grocers, darn it.) And also my tea trees will be delivered sometime in late April!
ALSO - for those non-veggie-enthusiasts, I've also started seeding flowers for the spring influx. There's fifteen-to-twenty types of flowers in all, but I can't remember all of them. Right off the top of my head I know I have zinnias, sunflowers, snapdragons, marigolds, morning glories, four o'clocks, black-eyed susans, love lies bleeding, red runner beans, bachelor's buttons, foxgloves, salpiglosis, annd.. others.
Already established flowers are: red kalanchoes, yellow kalanchoes, 3xbouganvillas, hydrengia, stargazer lillies, and a water lily.
Now then, amongst all the good will toward man kind in my garden(s), I'm still grumpy over ONE thing. You guys (and gals), my grandmother and father are trying to take over. I swear!! This was supposed to be MY garden and first the father was going to tell me how to plant, where to plant, what to plant. . and I escaped that private little hell. Now my grandmother's moving in on my territory - planting things and not telling me, planting them in places things that she's planted shouldn't be planted ( heighth-wise, they'll block sun, or soil depth needs). Just generally driving me crazy. Before I planted anything, I made diagrams of what I was planting where, so that in that bed, I could fit more things than usual without choking species out. After I woke up one morning and found MORE brussels planted in my garden than I planted, myself, I had to rework all my plans. Then two mornings later, there's squash in there ..
It's getting a little irritating.. she's not telling me she wants to plant, so I can't tell her open slots to plant in and already its resulted in her planting over top of my seeds. It's truly frustrating, but at the same time .. I'm not going to kill her plants just because she's playing on my side of the yard. That's cruel and stupid.
But you'd think she'd have curtesy enough to ask first.. Darn it!
Also -- an update on my livestock. So far, I still have my dog, my bird, and my fish, but now I also have rescued someone's pet rabbit. Unfortunately, due to injury, the woman was unable to care for him in the way he needs, so I took him off her hands for her with the promise that he'd be comfortable, happy, and loved. He's got his own hutch, good food, a fortified diet, bedding, a chewable tube to play in, and even his own tinkling ball. Yes.. this rabbit likes to play ball. He's still getting used to -me- however, so I won't begrudge him the way he runs from me! His name is Louis, by the way.
My grandmother also ignored the deal she and my family had made about getting chickens ( originally we were going to get full grown chickens for egg stock and once we had money built up from neighborhood sales, we were going to invest in baby chicks for new generation stock ) and she went and bought baby chickens with no coop, no protection, hardly any food for them, and also while she, herself, was not in the best of condition. So not only do we have chickens that have no proper home, but money will be thrown on the chicks for the next four or five some odd months before they'll be laying and will be able to sell the eggs for the money it takes to care for the chickens.
It's just an annoying, stressful, irritatingly vicious cycle we go in, but we love them anyway.. most days.
Soon to come are chicks or chickens of my own (Americaunas (sp?) and Rhode Island Reds, six in total. I would looovve a Buff Orpington in there, too.. And!! I will also be investing in three ducks - two mallards and a white pekin who I will name Rio. I don't know -why- 'Rio'..but its name shall be Rio. Mum loves mallards, so I promised her two mallards. With the ducks they will have their OWN pen, their own pond, and their own hand-made duck house. Made by yours truly!
Now .. I have a mystery for those who love mysteries. In the front of my house, where I have dumped presumably old birdseed from my parakeet's cage, there have sprouted an influx of .. what ever this is. It looks quite edible, actually, though I haven't dared eat any for fear of irrevocable death. It is leafy at the base, VERY grassy green, with taaallll stems that have crown-esque blooming, canary-yellow flowers with five simple petals, at the tops. They are NOT dandelion greens! I have no idea what they may be, so anyone who has seen or heard of such a thing, let me know? I'd hate to kill them, their flowers seem to attract butterflies..
Other than this information, I will try and get a picture of them sometime soon, and of my garden if anyone is interested!
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