The Chickens have Landed!
May. 29th, 2011 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clarentineSix little cheepers now occupy the chicken house - one Australorp (black, as they all are), one black and one splash Jersey Giant, two silver Ameraucanas, and one wheaten Ameraucana. They're about four weeks old, so it will be a good long while before they begin giving us eggs, but it's nice to have one more step taken along the road to actually having the small farm we'd envisioned.
(A decent pair of shots of the babies: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8556491@N07/)
Also accomplished: irrigation of a sort for the vegetable garden. After a good bit of trial and error (and three trips to Lowe's for more parts), we rigged up a 300-foot line from the tap in the front of the house to the bottom of the garden. Every other garden bed has its own spigot along that line. We'll put the system to work this afternoon, once the sun goes down a bit.
We had our first deer damage on Friday night; an entire row of tomato plants lost their tops. Saturday, all the tomatoes were promptly encased in deer fence, and the sweet potatoes (White Yam slips planted Wednesday evening) have a deer fence drape, too. Surprisingly, the deer have not yet bothered the beans. I thought deer liked beans!
The strawberry plants transplanted earlier this spring from TN have flowers, silly things. We may yet have fruit this year. The raspberries, newly transplanted, are pouting but should do fine once they settle down.
(We've already had wild strawberries - the ones I managed to get to before Kay did! - and will shortly begin enjoying the wild blueberries. Yum!)
***
On the writing front, I'm working my way through the second of third parts of the Bells novel, in what I kid myself will be a final pass before sending it off to my agent. I have another story nibbling away at my attention, which is nice in more ways than one; I haven't had the mental energy to generate new story ideas since February of 2010. The new characters' insistence on telling me about themselves is proof that my poor brain is recovering from the overload.
***
In hyperlocal news, it's hot and humid. Memorial Day weekend is a reminder of what this time of year means in central Virginia. Also, poison ivy is no fun.
::itches::
(A decent pair of shots of the babies: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8556491@N07/)
Also accomplished: irrigation of a sort for the vegetable garden. After a good bit of trial and error (and three trips to Lowe's for more parts), we rigged up a 300-foot line from the tap in the front of the house to the bottom of the garden. Every other garden bed has its own spigot along that line. We'll put the system to work this afternoon, once the sun goes down a bit.
We had our first deer damage on Friday night; an entire row of tomato plants lost their tops. Saturday, all the tomatoes were promptly encased in deer fence, and the sweet potatoes (White Yam slips planted Wednesday evening) have a deer fence drape, too. Surprisingly, the deer have not yet bothered the beans. I thought deer liked beans!
The strawberry plants transplanted earlier this spring from TN have flowers, silly things. We may yet have fruit this year. The raspberries, newly transplanted, are pouting but should do fine once they settle down.
(We've already had wild strawberries - the ones I managed to get to before Kay did! - and will shortly begin enjoying the wild blueberries. Yum!)
***
On the writing front, I'm working my way through the second of third parts of the Bells novel, in what I kid myself will be a final pass before sending it off to my agent. I have another story nibbling away at my attention, which is nice in more ways than one; I haven't had the mental energy to generate new story ideas since February of 2010. The new characters' insistence on telling me about themselves is proof that my poor brain is recovering from the overload.
***
In hyperlocal news, it's hot and humid. Memorial Day weekend is a reminder of what this time of year means in central Virginia. Also, poison ivy is no fun.
::itches::
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-29 08:43 pm (UTC)Nice to hear your garden is doing well. Is Kay your dog? Our last set of dogs would eat wild blackberries with us - started out with us picking them for them, and they they learned how to do it on their own. lol.
Gggrrr, poison ivy. Hope it goes away soon for you!! :o)
no subject
Date: 2011-05-29 08:49 pm (UTC)Kay is my chowhound, yes. And my vole-killer! And strawberry stalker. She hasn't yet discovered blackberries - not that I'm aware of, anyway - but I bet she figures it out. She eats pretty much anything else.
You know what they say about mind over matter? It doesn't work on poison ivy itches. >:-)
no subject
Date: 2011-05-29 09:25 pm (UTC)You have lovely chickens - such a variety of colors. And very handsome cats.
In other fun news, I plan to be running around the woods in two weeks in costume...
no subject
Date: 2011-05-30 12:48 am (UTC)(Yeah, I'm gonna declare war on the poison ivy; dishwashing gloves, trowel, bucket of soapy water and you are mine, noxious weed!)
no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 11:11 pm (UTC)I plan on keeping an eye out for poison ivy, and will have lots of various bug repellents. I'm most concerned about ticks, and will be bringing a mirror to do checks in my tent.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 01:40 am (UTC)This is the gizmo: http://www.amazon.com/TickKey-Tick-Removal-Tool-RED/dp/B001HRLYQ4
no subject
Date: 2011-05-30 09:30 am (UTC)BTW, I really like your butterfly understudy picture.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-30 01:44 pm (UTC)Some more just for you: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8556491@N07/ (Though the mantid photo may be something you've already seen, the recent posts on your blog put me in mind of it.)
no subject
Date: 2011-05-30 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-30 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 03:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 01:44 am (UTC)