Curious Minds Want to Know (aka Hi Mom!)

Talked to my mom the other day.

She wanted to know why she hadn't heard from us in a while.  

"Been really busy in the greenhouses."

She replied, "Well, put up some pictures so we can see!"

And this is the real drag about living 400 miles from your family. 

The other drag being that we can't share this glorious bounty with them!

So here is your proof, Ma, that you and Pop successfully cultivated a green thumb in your little girl.

Here is the first bed Moose and i have tackled in the AG.

Planted are Early New York storage onions, Walla Walla's, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower.

Here in the second bed of the AG, we cleared last fall, and planted Musik garlic.  Transplanted a type of red lettuce that was the only seed to germinate out of last year's mesclun packet.  These were started in February.

Here's a head from last year's Jericho lettuce that I let go to seed during the summer.

You can see where I'll be taking the short hauls this year. :)

"Sugar" snap peas (under the string) have started germinating along with the French Breakfast radishes (upper left corner) and Bull's Blood beets (lower left corner).

Moving on to the seed nursery...

The tomatoes are slo-o-o-wly being potted up (aka taking over everything).

These are the Galina and Yellow Pear cheery toms.

Snow White cherry toms and Sheboygan paste toms

and more Yellow Pear and Black Cherry toms.

The idea this year is to have a mixed cherry tom basket to offer.

Practicing this stuff now in case Lil Farmer Mac wants to work a farmer's market next year.

The bell peppers.

And more onions. 

I got this great idea from a podcast I listen to from Chicken Thistle Farm in NY state.

Use these bunched like this to grow bunching onions that are easily harvested.  

I seeded up a combo of red, yellow, and white onions this way.

In Rosie's greenhouse, Moose has been starting on his potato tower. 

Plans to finish it next week when he is on vacation.

Yellow Finns are going in here.

And there you are...a photo update. 

I'll leave you with one last one...

She said she wasn't going to smile until a customer showed up. 

A discussion ensued about how her Irish dancing in the parking lot to draw attention to our eggs might be a better advertising strategy. :)

A Fowl Experiment

Please, don't fence me in.

Up until a couple weeks ago, we were trying to corral our ducks out in the back pastures (boy, who would have figured on them being such escape artists!)  One of our ducks was taken as vittles by some wild critter.  It was time to come up with another plan for these guys, but we weren't quite certain what.

We'd heard that ducks and chickens get along quite well, but hadn't had a lot of luck with that in the past.  Now it seemed we had no choice but to try. 

So in they went.  Kiddie pool and all.

We worried that this little dude would cause a ton of trouble with Cheevy, our drake.  So far, he's been on his best behaviour.

Teddy Crowsavelt, Resident Roo

 The ladies haven't been really impressed by Cheevy's manners.  He is a bulldog with those hens.  They look in the same direction as the hen duck, and Cheevy's racing toward them, biting their feathers.  Seems as though we picked the perfect name for him when we named him "Mis(ter) Chevious".  We've had to break up a scuffle or two, but for the most part, it's gone better than we expected.

Leaving you with some more pictures of the poultry pasture and some of the hens.

Sun's out, so i am going to take this break in the rain showers to tackle the daily chores out there.



Honey Boo Boo and her sissy getting out of Cheevy's way

Caroline.  She lays the green eggs in your cartons.

Kathleen (Teddy's dame), Meringue, and Honey Boo Boo

Bird's eye view of life in the Poultry Pasture

Have you ever raised mixed poultry before?  How did it turn out?  Do you have any suggestions for keeping the peace (besides a cardboard cutout of Marshall Dillon)?