Learning to take the farm life on the chin

There is a chicken in my small flock that I've become particularly fond of.  This sweet chicken started as a tiny little yellow chick and has grown to be large and the most beautiful gentle bird.  I've had a sneaking suspiscion that this was not the hen I hoped it was, but was woken by his crow just this morning.  Since I live in the city and I'm not allowed to have chickens at all, he will surely give the rest of us away with his alarm clock voice.  I'm so sad that he'll need to find a new home.  I have a prospect or two, but no one who would consider this sweet gentleman for dinner.

Upcycled wood/recycled plastic composite raised beds

What a cool turn of events that resulted in some great raised beds. My Frenchman noticed that some composite (trex type) decking had been sitting around his work. It was once part of what used to be a handicap ramp. He asked and was given the materials and began cleaning them and planning our new garden area. Last week, he installed two of the three new beds (we're waiting until the sweet potatoes are harvested before we add the third). I was so excited to get started on the beds that I started filling them and mulching around them until I found myself trying to finish in the dark!

We've been digging and planting and seating in this record hot weather with high humidity.

It's been a good week and I've somehow kept in a fall mood as we begin planting like it's spring.

The Coop

I laugh as I write this. "The Coop" was once a place where the Frenchman and I (and most of our families and friends) used to go to dance on Saturday nights when we were dating and living in Maine. It was a barn with picnic tables lining the inside and the house band was the Ritcher family who owned the place. Strictly BYOB. They played for our wedding reception. It was quite a party!

The coop that we are installing is not as fun, but it's definately as creative. The Frenchman has built this chicken tractor (movable coop) from recycled PVC pipe and recycled PVC fence material. The only thin we bought was the wire and a few latches. 1/2" wire is suggested to keep snakes and things out, so here we go.

Here it is!

I'm proud that this talented carpenter has always been interested in reusing every scrap and has made some beautiful furniture from it in the past. We rescued a side table today from the landfill. I'll post that project as we get it underway along with the raise beds, and maybe a salad growing table. (He's sucha good sport).

The Dogs approve, too!

Saturday Morning at the Cottage

Ahh, to sleep in one day a week. It's such a guilty pleasure! The dogs and I puttered around all morning; I read and made sandwiches for the event, the dogs napped, and the Frenchman is in the yard working on the new chicken coop. Today I'm preparing to go to the bridal shower of a beautiful young woman, the bride of our young Director of Worship, Tom. The church will overflow with well wishes for them today and I'm excited to go.

Open Face Cucumber Sandwiches

3 small cucumbers (peeled if waxed) and sliced thin
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 package dry Italian dressing mix
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 sour cream
1 loaf rye cocktail bread (or regular loaf cut in half)
dill weed to garnish

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, and dressing mix together and refrigerate (overnight is best)
Spread each piece of bread with cream cheese mix, place a cucumber slice or two on top and garnish with dill.

Garden Update in Pictures

The fastest growing animal on earth?

Ok, I felt bad when my two children grew up right before my eyes, it's even more amazing to watch my baby grandson turn into a toddler, but I've never seen anything grow as fast as a chick! They are now 18 days old. These little buggers are changing daily. They obviously weigh more everyday and are more curious all the time, just like our grandson. They're starting to roost on nealy alnything and they are eating a ton! Here are a few pictures of "the girls"; Cocoa (Brown Easter Egger), Bella (Buff Orpington), and Daisy(soon to be a white Delaware).

By the way, our grandson has accidentally squeezed Daisy a couple of times, but she's still our most relaxed and friendly chick!

Today I got to spend time caring for my grandson after dinner which meant poop, came home and cleanned the chickens (more poop), and let the dogs out (you guessed it). The moral of this story is: the more people and pets you love, the more of thier poop you have to put up with.

Urban Farmer: Raising Chicks

A New Adventure in Urban Farming!

We've just received our shipment of three day old chicks. We requested hens to appease the neighbors, hopefully that's what we recieved. The are so sweet and seem very content in our homemade brooder. The cottage seems more homey already! The Grandbaby loves these little hens.

Late Summer in the Deep South

It's mid August and the subtropical weather has been seasonably hot and humid. The heat on our shady back porch has been at 100 at 4:00pm two days in a row. The humidity is at 95-100% every morning and usually levels out to 35% by afternoon.

The Frenchman and I got way to the beach for a couple of days to celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary. We day dreamed about a little beach house, but we'd miss our veggie patch. The 30 miles that seperates up from the ocean is just fine, besides, if we lived there, where would we go to get away?

The early mornings and evenings are my favorite times now. On a cooler morning I find it hard to stay out of the garden when I'm supposed to be getting ready for work. I'm craving a cool Maine day and a cold night a the county fair. I'll settle for a cooling rain shower and our local hot county fair in early November. I suppose this is a perfect time of year to rear some baby chicks since they love the heat, so that's my next big adventure. They arrive in 7 days!

The Frenchman and I have begun to talk about our dream of building a small eco-friendly home with big front and back porches and a bit more room to expand and explore. We have a good amount of planning and even more financial buckling down to do if we want to accomplish this dream, but the planning is part of the fun.

Meanwhile, we're constantly puttering around our little cottage, especially in the back yard. Our anniversary present ot ourselves was a papaya tree. I'm so happy we enjoy the same things!

Late summer planting began last week & my zucchini already has it's first leaves. I've also sown some okra, chocolate mint coleus, Big Max pumpkin, summer squash, and cherry tomatoes. It's all an experiment at this oint, but my goal for fall/winter planting is a container garden full of herbs. I've have to wait for cooler weather and besides, I need to help build the "stealth" chicken coop first (city limits and chickens don't jell). The coop has a planting area on top, so maybe it will be my new herb garden!

The sedums have been loving the weather. I've just potted an Autumn Joy in honor of my grandson's mother (her namesake) and it's one of the few potted plants that are thriving in this weather.

The watermelon is being attacked by stink beetles, but it's hanging in there. I've just planted some sweet potato vines, but probably too early since they look very droopy, so I've been hand watering them daily along with my green peppers.

Some recent flops has been carrots that seemed to like the sandy soil, but looked terrible malnourished. My tomatoes have died off and I fear my Cecile Bruner rose is not responding well to the organic liquid fertilizer, so I think I'll try a teaspoon of Epsom salts. It's all a big experiment that I hope to learn from.

I sometimes feel like a mad scientist with my little assistant(19 month old Logan). He likes to throw rocks in the tiny pond, so it may be a rock garden soon - poor fish :(

Stay cool and enjoy what's left of the summer!

US Botanic Garden Washington, DC

I just returned from DC where I visited (with my Mother, Sisters, and some friends) so many sites, I'm having difficulty recalling everything that I took in over our weekend. One of the highlights was the U.S. Botanic Garden, with the Conservatory full of diverse plant life and "rooms" like The Jungle, Children's Garden, World Desert, Southern Exposure, and the Orchid display, it was a vast collection of plants from all types of climates. I found it hard to take it all in, so I snaps some photos of my favorites. I also tried to capture some of beauty of the parks close by. I hope you enjoy this little photo tour.

My Sisters, Mom & I

My twin sister

A Perfect Weekend in Pictures

I hope you had a nice weekend and that the joy extends into your week :)

Playing Indoors - Baby Baseball

My Frendchman is the pitcher, our grandbaby's Mommy is the videographer. What fun!

When it Rains, it Pours

It's been raining for about 50 hours with a few breaks in the rain. The garden is loving it. The dogs aren't, but they've bee heaving so well. My grand baby and I have sung quite a few chorus' of "Rain Rain Go Away" and "It's Raining, It's Pouring". My Frenchman mowed just before the rains and the yard is a nice view from inside. We sat our on the screen porch and enjoyed the rain and the solar lights last evening. I've only been out to the veggie garden to pick a few sweet 100 tomatoes. The extended family drama continues so our nice evening was interrupted. It didn't matter that it was Dad's (the Frenchman's) birthday. I'm trusting Jesus and like the apostles in the boat, I keeping my eyes fixed on Him waiting for the next storm, since when it rains, it pours.

Rain!

After 10+ extremely dry days and heat in the mid 90's, last evening I had my whole family over for a dinner of their favorite french dip sandwiches. The only better thing than having happy family around is having rain during dinner. It's been so very dry. My corn that is just getting tassels was turning yellow. My lamb's ear was flat on the ground and I couldn't hand water fast enough. As we sat down to eat the sky opened and it rained, it poured!

Today the garden is lively and the marigolds from seed have bloomed. The lambs ear is standing up like a smile.

As I sit here typing on the love seat, I take a break to look out the window, I see something buzzing around the aloe flowers. It's a humming bird! Te first one I've ever seen in my garden in the 20 years I've lived here.

Today I'm thanking God for rain, for the possom my Aussie pulled out from under the gazebo yesterday (it played dead), for family, and for humming birds.