Tuesday, June 26, 2018

The Adventures of Kari and Whitney...

Maybe you remember a post from back in April, where I lost my chickens to a fox...

Since then, our neighbor gave us two leghorn hens that she hatched in her animal science class at CTC.  She transported them in a cat carrier, they were that small, at only 8 weeks of age...



I named them Kari and Whitney, after her mom and aunt.  :)  Just for fun!

While I tried to figure out how to fortify the chicken pen and make it fox-proof, I penned them inside the shed with screens over the doors.  They still got lots of light, ventilation, and had plenty of room to explore. 

They were quite timid at first, and hid under the nesting boxes whenever I would come around.  They learned to flutter up and climb inside the nesting boxes to sleep. Sometimes I would find them huddled together in one box...


They're now about 14 weeks old, growing fast, and becoming braver.  They've begun venturing outside in search of bugs, grass and whatever chickens find to eat.  They also enjoy the watermelon and cantelope rinds that I've been putting in their pen.  Today the two of them devoured the rind of a watermelon in just a few hours!  If they keep eating like they are, and growing, in about 6 or 7 weeks, we should find some eggs!  It's going to look kind of strange to see white eggs...we've only ever had brown chickens and brown eggs.  Hopefully later this summer, we'll add a few more chickens...



Tonight when I mowed inside the pen, they actually stayed outside, and only ran inside when Phoebe barked at them.  (She would love to eat them, so we have to be super diligent to see that she never gets inside the pen!)


I snagged a huge pile of (free!) discarded fence posts and rails from the golf course across the road that is doing a lot of renovations, and lined the inside of the fence, in hopes that it will deter unwanted  critters, aka foxes, from getting inside...


The next thing is to catch the groundhog that has dug a hole underneath the shed.  There's always something!



Monday, June 25, 2018

More Gardening...

Yesterday afternoon my Mom and I went on a local garden tour.  It was a beautiful afternoon, although by the time we were finished, it was quite hot, and we were both ready for a nap!  I only took photos at this one place...and this was only the area directly behind the house and around the pool!  We didn't even venture further into the back yard here, as we had just done a lot of walking at the last place...




We both liked the flowers in the bird bath...


And I love the vibrant colors of the yarrow and day lilies by the garage...


So...today I was inspired to get to work in my own gardens.  I pulled weeds, sprayed weeds, and trimmed with the weed eater where I hadn't had time on Saturday after mowing.

I was a bit a lot appalled at how bad the weeds had begun creeping into the row of shrubs by my garden.  I knew that I wanted to mulch with bark chips rather than regular mulch here, since the chips last so much longer.  And...the golf course across the road has been chipping up tree limbs, fence posts, and all matter of wood scraps over the past few weeks, so...

I drove down and asked if they would be willing to let me come and get some scoops with the skid loader for my shrubs.

I offered to pay, but the guy in charge said that I could have all I wanted for free, and here's the kicker...he offered to deliver as much as I wanted this afternoon!!  Yes!

He brought me three truck loads of wood chips, which was about the equivalent of twelve skid loader scoops, and put them on a pile behind the barn...


Jim offered to help by running the skid loader...


...and in about forty five minutes we were finished!  He dumped, and I spread the wood chips out thickly with my sturdy metal rake.  There are still a couple of scoops left, so as it settles, I can fill in the low spots.

My butterfly bush is a little straggly looking here...it barely survived the winter for some reason...


Now all I have to do is tidy up my edges (tomorrow??) and it will be another project complete!

Oh...and did I mention that it was another fabulous, gorgeous, almost perfect weather kind of day today?!  Icing on the cake!

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Here Comes the Heat...

This past week, we have had the most perfect weather we could ever have asked for!  Low humidity :) :) nice breezes, blue skies, sunshine and mild temps. I hung out lots of laundry and watched it blow in the breeze!

I wish we could have bottled it up and saved it, because tomorrow it's supposed to change...


We're all going to wish we could stay in front of these fans!

Stay cool if you can!


Monday, June 4, 2018

And Then It Rained...Again...

I'm sure there are many of you who are desperately in need of rain, and would be thrilled for a thunderstorm to roll through...but we are totally saturated here, and need some warm sunshine to dry out the fields!

Several weeks ago we had ten or eleven days straight of rain, and this weekend we just had another 4".

Some things are quite happy about it...


The grapes are flourishing...


The basil is quite happy, while the rosemary is tolerant but not thrilled...


The gerbera daisies have mixed feelings.  I have five pots sitting on this bench, and this one isn't very happy.  Too much water in the crown has caused the leaves to rot and fall off.  This one bloom, however, is persevering and trying desperately to open despite it's less than ideal circumstances...


The corn is struggling.  A lot of the corn came up nice, although it was pretty hesitant to poke through during that first week of rain.  Several areas were replanted, and that corn popped up quickly last week, just in time to lay underwater again.  This is mild.  Driving around in the area, some fields look like ponds.  There will be some permanent damage from too much moisture, and it will be interesting to see what kind of yields Lancaster County has this year.  Unlikely a repeat of last year's bumper crop!


The beans that were planted on Monday are starting to pop up...


Down to the garden...

The tomatoes seem really happy after a slow start.  So does the barley that sprouted from the straw I mulched with.  As soon as I can walk in there without sinking in, I'll have to do some weeding.


And...the verdict is in on the four-year-old seeds.

These are the green beans...


...and the limas are trying.  Really trying.  It could be the age of the seeds or all the rain, I'm not sure, but they're trying.


I sure wish I could send some of our moisture to those of you who need it!

Hoping for some sun!

**In regards to the question I asked on this post last week...that's a soybean planter in the pictures.  It's all folded up for transporting on the road, so it's a guess, really, for most people to know what was being planted!