So glad
…that the heat’s gone for now. I walked around the yard this morning, amused by the tools and implements scattered everywhere: we all just stopped whatever we were doing yesterday, when it hit 88 degrees and humid as hell, and ran for the shade. Guess it’s time to resume planting & weeding now, though.
Even the chickens were pissy yesterday. My favorite hen, Murray, pecked me twice when I tried to pick her up yesterday, and she’s normally not like that. And the others were crabby, too. Today finds them much calmer & sweeter; Murray flew up out of the brooder, right into my hands and sat there happily, until I put her down.
Making Key Lime Pie #2, and dancing on the ashes of my good intentions. It’s damn, damn hard to diet when you have all these dairy products off the forbidden list…I’m making up for it by getting as much exercise as possible, but I’m not sure it’s enough! So, I figure, if you’re going to Hell, enjoy the trip: Key Lime Pie. This time, no whipped cream, but beaten egg whites are folden in & the whole heavenly mess gets frozen after it’s baked. Can’t wait!
chickens, 3+ weeks old
The chicks outgrew the original brooder with alarming speed, and made us aware of their dissatisfaction by attempting to stage an escape every time we opened the top of the damn thing.
So, enter the expando-brooder. It’s pretty much just a hastily-constructed wooden frame atop a couple of pallets, with expanses of chicken wire, deer fencing, cardboard, and anything else we could find. They love it.
Unfortunately, it’s still in the greenhouse, which is subject to wide swings of temperature, so yesterday afternoon’s sun-induced 110-degree temperatures caused a panic. We threw tarps over the top of the greenhouse, now rendering it unfit for plants. It was only 83 degrees outside the greenhouse, which nicely demonstrates how useful the greenhouse is at capturing the sun’s heat to become a very large oven.
If you’re considering raising chicks in a greenhouse, it has some advantages: dirt & dust are easily swept out, a large fan vents off much of the excess heat, and they are exposed to the full range of natural daylight, which sets their metabolisms up nicely. However, the swings in temperature that are possible (I’ve seen a 40-50 degree variation in one afternoon with alternating storms & strong sun) mean that they need constant surveillance & a way to deal with the heat.
And for very young chicks, the threat of cold & draft in a greenhouse can be a problem, too.
In other news, I gave them their first grapes, to see what they’d do: they love them! They love the taste & they love to run around with them, while their sisters chase them around, flapping their tiny wings. It’s therapeutic, and I highly recommend it for stress relief.
Countdown to chickens!
Tomorrow, I get to go down to the post office & tell them that we’re getting live chicks Tuesday or Wednesday…can’t wait to see their faces.
We’re in the last few days of chicklessness, and I have to admit to being pretty nervous that we don’t screw something up completely. I’m glad to be around for this process, though…having switched to freelance work from fulltime pays off mightily in spring time, when every achingly beautiful day can actually be experienced, and projects like starting a flock of laying hens & setting up a worm bin can be completed, rather than dreamed of. I’m rich in memories, rather than cash, but the novelty of that hasn’t worn off yet. 
The coop! The coop!
It’s here!
Damn, what an ordeal. The delivery truck got stuck in the mud, our truck got a flat in the middle of pulling the delivery truck out, but the coop arrived in one piece. It’s cute. We like.
I’m really sick & really worn out, so am not really going to post much today. Happy, though.
Junco in the greenhouse
Thanks to the wonderful warm day, the plants in the greenhouse got a nice dose of pre-spring fresh air, and a visit from a junco, who was plenty annoyed after ending up stuck in there all night. He’s free now, though.
I wonder if he spent any time in the chick enclosure (which is a couple of cardboard boxes), because you’re supposed to be very careful about wild birds being anywhere near chickens, but I don’t think it should be a problem. Hmmm.
Snow Update
Snowfall, Wednesday – Friday: 12 inches.
Calories burned shoveling snow: 1224 (408 x 3 hours).
Man, my back is not happy today. I’m hoping it will loosen up while I’m out snowshoeing.
In other news, the chicken coop delivery is rescheduled for some time when we can see the ground. 
The box & heat lamp are set up in the greenhouse for the chicks, when we get them, but I think we’ll all be a bit more at ease when we actually get the coop and run set up.
We’re getting closer and closer to seed-starting time: it’s technically just a few weeks until the peas get planted, too, but it’s a little hard to imagine with the beds under 12 inches of snow.
(And of course the apple trees still need to be pruned, but the repair of the chainsaw will dictate when that can happen.)
Between the Snowstorms
We just got over an underwhelming “snowstorm” on Saturday, and are heading for another tomorrow: I’m at home, doing freelance work & am up to my eyeballs in homework, so I’m hoping I get out to play in the snow for a few minutes.
All the hard work of spring still seems like a million miles away.
(and yes, the apple trees still need pruning: the weather has not been cooperating at all AND we’ve been lazy. This month, it’s gotta happen this month, or we suck.)
We’ve finally got a coop worked out, and it will be delivered in March, and that means we can get chicks soon after. Yay! No idea of breed yet, but at least we’re making some headway.
I’ve been tinkering a lot in the kitchen: growing various bean sprouts (yummy), making vegan caramels (successful & sticky), and I’m thinking of trying my hand at fermentation, as in pickles, sauerkraut, natto, etc. I LOVE Asian pickles, and can rarely find them or afford them, so I thought I’d get fresh daikon radish & lotus root & make the pickles myself.
And everyone knows I love natto, but no one else does, or even likes hearing about it, so I’ll shut up. I have a fine gallery of natto pictures on Flickr, if you’d like to be frightened by fermenting, stinky beans, be my guest: here’s the link
Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though.
Fermentation is supposed to be a much better source of probiotics than taking acidophillus pills, so I’m strongly considering it. We’ll see.
Otherwise, not much happening around here. Let it snow.
The grow list
I’m gearing up for the planting season (I assume that the unseasonable warmth today is contributing to my garden-y thoughts), and thought I’d share what we’re planning to grow this year:
From Southern Exposure Seed Exchange:
Organic Brandywine Tomatoes
Organic Dinosaur Kale
Organic Bloomsdale Spinach
Mayo Amaranth (for the chickens and local wildlife, really, though we may eat the young greens)
New Zealand Spinach
and from Nichols Garden Nursery
Organic Calabrese Broccoli
Chinese Kale (Gai Lohn)
Cocozelle Bush Zucchini
Takinogawa Burdock
“Land Seaweed” Agretti (Salsola Komarovi) (I have no freaking idea, it looked very interesting, so we’re trying it out)
Rat-tail Radishes (again, curiosity struck)
another package of Organic Dinosaur Kale (also called “Tuscan” or “Lascinato”), since we’ll probably replant in the fall for a winter harvest.
Celtuce (Stem Lettuce) (curiosity again)
So, it should be interesting! This isn’t an exhaustive list at all, we’ll still be buying seed potatoes, pepper plants, and herb plants, as well as other plants that we tend to buy as seedlings, rather than sprouting ourselves.
I’ve also got designs on some random stuff, like actively cultivating the purslane that’s planted itself throughout the raised beds (for us & for the chickens, since it’s very high in Omega-3), and stinging nettle, which we’ll have to procure locally, once Well Sweep (our local herb nursery) opens for the season.
I’m also looking for some seed swaps, so if anyone has any recommendations, please pass them on!
I actually rejoined myfolia.com to track this stuff better, since they’ve got some awesome tools, so you may see some cross-posting or references to my information, which can be found here.
ah ha ha, chicken books!
So, when everyone gets the same person chicken books for Christmas, it quickly becomes ridiculous. Luckily, my dad’s not the type to expect grand extravagance, so he took the four chicken books in stride.
Replete from dinner, actually more like: too full to be at the computer so I’m going to hibernate for a bit & come back later.
Chickens and all
We’re having serious talks about the prospects of raising chickens for eggs…not for additional revenue, but so we can turn some of our compost into food for chickens, and some of the chicken’s leavings into even better compost.
It’s all a matter of researching permaculture & chicken tractors, now, and I’m picturing the shuffle through the snow to a small, hay-filled coop, and hoping we’re smart enough to make it all easier rather than harder.
Right now, we’re resting up from shoveling out from under a pretty massive snowstorm, and I’m hoping to get on my skis soon. Soon!
My Dad’s Pet Fig Trees
real food challenge
my awesome cousin