Getting started

Monday was a fabulous day.  Perfect temps, perfect winds, just perfect for working in the garden.

This year we expanded our garden to nearly twice its previous size.  Hubby did a lot of tilling while I staked and stringed out the new beds. 

This is the other end of the garden.  You can see garlic patch in the center, surrounded by straw.  The brownish color of the foreground soil is due to the chicken litter we spread over it last fall.

I ordered lots of asparagus crowns this year, hoping to get a large bed established. 

After the asparagus was planted, we put in the potatoes.  Number Three Son helped.

After the potatoes we broke for supper.  But right after supper I and the two littlest monkeys went right back out to plant the peas, shell and snap.  The boys liked putting the peas on the soil and pushing them in with their fingers.  They felt unrestricted by bed borders, however, and thus I will have pea shoots growing up everywhere in my garden this spring.  Which is just dandy. 

Tomorrow plans to be another beautiful day.  On top of the garden to-do list: planting the 50 raspberry canes that came in the mail yesterday.  After weeks of cold wet weather, spring has finally arrived.  Temporarily, at least.

Mr. Hairy is a mom

Remember in another post when I said we were getting chicks this summer?  Well, what I should have said was we were getting chicks TODAY!

Several weeks ago my white silkie hen decided that come heck or high water, she was going to sit on a spot on the floor and try to hatch an egg.  Silkies are notorious for their broodiness, and to be honest that was the reason I got her in the first place.  I was thinking at the time (last year) that this spring I might like to try hatching a few eggs.  So, when she went broody last month, I decided to just let her sit there and see what would happen.  In the end she ended up sitting on six eggs, some of them not her own.

Every few days I would lift up her rump to check on the progress.  21 days came and went, and I figured that for whatever reason (probably the cold, damp weather) the eggs weren't going to do anything.  But being the lazy person I am, I just let her keep setting til I figured out what to do.

Then this evening, I lifted her up and saw two little fuzzy black things drop out from under her wings.  Chicks!  Teeny tiny black peeping chicks!

Enter frantic mode.  After a hurried supper, hubby and I set up the big brooder cage inside the coop, layered it with new hay and put in a small feeder and waterer.  We moved the mamma and her babies and the unhatched eggs (just in case) to the new, more protected location.  I wanted to be sure that the barn cats and the rest of the chickens weren't tempted by the new babies.

Of course I have no chick feed, and tomorrow's Easter, so all the stores will be closed.  They will just have to survive on layer feed until then.  I'll have to go to the grocery store and get some more parakeet grit.  And I've just remembered about the danger of chicks drowning in water, so I must find some marbles or rocks to put in the base of the water fount.  So many things to do!

Hunting outdoors

A quick peek at a few things that are trying to make a go of it, in our cold drizzly gray weather.

 Garlic is up!  100% germination.  Hooray!

Plus a few garlic clumps that I missed from last year's harvest.

Self-seeded lettuce from last year's plants.

And regrowth from some Brussel Sprout stumps. Our long, deep snow cover apparently gave the roots enough protection to ride out the winter.  I was tempted to let these grow out and see if I could harvest some seed, but from what I understand about brassicas you need lots of flowering plants to get a good quality seed harvest.  Plus these are probably hybrids, and wouldn't breed true.  At least I know it could be done if I wanted to try.

Rhubarb!

Tulips!

And an old bed frame!

No, this didn't grow here. We put it out in the front yard late last fall, when we had our attic insulated. At the time I was thinking I could do something really creative with it in the yard or garden. I've seen lots of pictures of 'flower beds' using old bed frames. But looking at the thing now, I am at a loss. Perhaps someone with a lot more imagination than I will come up with something brilliant. If so, please share!

Hunting indoors

We celebrated Easter a week early this year, thanks to the inconvenient timing of this spring's sport fishing opener.  Fishing opener weekend marks the beginning of the park's camping season, and the beginning of my work-every-weekend-til-Labor-Day routine.  I don't mind working weekends in the summer when I can spend time with my kids during the week, but during April and May while the kids are in school it's kind of a bummer.

Family came to visit, and we painted eggs.  Easter is the only time of year that I buy eggs from the grocery store.  The bright colors just don't work on our own brown eggs.  Speaking of eggs, we're getting at least a dozen a day from the ladies now.  My husband rolled his eyes when I told him I had ordered more chicks for this summer.  You can never have too many eggs, right??

In the background of this picture you can see my seedling set-up. I've got two card tables against the wall.  On top of the tables are my potted herbs and a tray of planted seeds.  I've got two fluorescent shop lamps suspended underneath the tables, giving light to my seedlings.  The seedlings themselves are in paper cups, which are crowded into (new and clean!) cat litter boxes.

Space under the lights is at a premium.  I've already moved my cold-tolerant veges (Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, chard and lettuce) to the three-season porch to make room for the peppers, tomatoes and eggplant.  Soon I'll be starting my cukes and squash, which will create even more crowding.  I so need a greenhouse.
 

We had the egg hunt on Sunday morning.  I was hoping for an outside hunt, but apparently the Easter bunny thought it was too cold and drizzly (which it definitely was).  So we were indoors.  As you can see, the absence of opposable thumbs apparently doesn't hinder the bunny from hiding eggs in screw-top jars.  Also, here is another rare grocery store purchase of mine, a bag of flour.  My 25-lb bag of organic Swany Mills was running dry, and our local co-op had run out.  Next time we drive through Freeport, Minnesota, I'll be sure to buy two big bags of the good stuff.