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!

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!

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!

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!

Planting..

Something else got planted today...

What do you think it was?

Hint...the planter is folded up for transporting on the road, so you need to use your imagination!

Garden 2018...the Beginning...

My garden is planted about as late as it's ever been, this year!  A long week of rain and other "more important things" are my excuses!

Last evening I rototilled, and tonight I planted.

I planted a row of zinnias, a bed of sunflowers, and found two packs of seeds in my garden shed from 2014.  This is the year of experimentation...will they germinate or not?

This is my lima bean row, guarded fiercely by my two helpers.

One of these helpers is about to cause trouble.  Can you guess which one?

First, she tried to eat the lima beans as fast as I dropped them into the rows...

Then she found a piece of wood and decided to play keep away with her mother...

You can imagine the state of the garden when they were finished!

I found several volunteer dill plants growing along the edge of the garden, so I left them to grow...

My tomatoes have actually been planted for a couple of weeks.  I have blight in my soil, so each year I mulch heavily with straw, to keep the soil from splashing up onto the leaves when it rains.  I also spray them with liquid copper.  I hope they do ok this year, because I planted them, mulched them and then it began to rain, before I got them sprayed!

My cucumbers, Burpless #26, don't look too happy.  They didn't appreciate all the rain either, and turned a little yellow and sickly looking.  But now that we've had several days of sunshine, I see a blossom!  Fingers crossed!  My pickle shelf is getting empty...

And last but not least...

Totally unrelated, but located  next to my garden, are our two new additions...

Kari and Whitney are leghorn pullets, given to me by Kari's daughter Avalea.  She and her fellow classmates at our local CTC hatched them and raised them to eight weeks of age before finding them new homes.   Last evening I went inside to check on them and I found them huddled together in the nesting boxes.  Aren't they sweet?

They're still extremely shy, and they're not allowed out of the shed yet.  I want to protect them from hawks and other dangers as much as possible until they're bigger.  I've also reinforced the fence to keep out foxes and other predators.

Hopefully they'll be joined before too long by some other hens, to keep them company.  (and to keep us in eggs!!)

After The Rain...

I really want this post to be about after the rain...but the problem is, you see...it keeps on raining!!

Friday a week ago, most of corn went in the ground.  Saturday the rain began.  And Sunday. And Monday. I remember that Tuesday was just cloudy, and I regretted not getting the yard mowed. It rained again on Wednesday. And Thursday. Friday was finally nice enough to mow, (I could have baled the grass, it had grown so much!) and then it rained in the evening.  Saturday brought heavy rain all day, and finally, Sunday was nice, with only a brief shower. 

You get the picture.  We lost track of the measurements, but we must have had +-3" of rain in the past week. 

The corn was a concern.  However, as soon as the sun came out again, we saw this...

If you enlarge the picture, you'll see faint green rows running the length of the field.  Most of the corn germinated and came up, except for some low lying areas where the water either washed or couldn't get away in the saturated ground.  We're very thankful!

Now for the colorful part of the post...

Years ago, our neighbor Ruth grew and sold bearded iris.  She shared with us, and whenever I see them bloom, I think of her!

Their blooming season is short...we'll only enjoy them for a week or so...but I just love them!  When I walk past them to the calf hutches, their sweet scent is so pleasant!

Yesterday was perfect.  Just perfect...lots of blue sky, a gentle breeze and low humidity.

And today it rained again. 

Sigh.