Memorial Day

The chicks are getting huge. If there are no thunderstorms I may be able to get out and finish planting today. The pumpkins in the pots are trying to bloom already!

I'd love to take the babies out and put them in their chicken tractors; but am worried that they'll still be able to get out underneath the 'yard' frames.

Circle C was Saturday, and we did so much - going to the school and getting the six-foot poles, the electronics, and the speakers for the parade, setting those up and announcing the parade, then tearing it all down and taking it back; getting the school benches loaded and taken down to the park then back again, helping Paul load up some BIG iron and wood picnic tables/benches, working the buffet line - whew. Mike wired in my karaoke machine to the sound system so I played music in the misty rain while folks played horseshoes and got lined up. My back and legs were sore all day yesterday, so I goofed off.

I was very tired but feel better today. I got the feeling that some people didn't like that I was everywhere and doing stuff as a newcomer that they wouldn't do. Fact is that some folks complain that the town and Circle C is dying, but on't understand that the reason it is dying is because they don't get involved. Even people whom I had asked to volunteer, who had refused, showed up. This is THEIR town, after all. I'm glad I could be a catalyst for that; I don't WANT that responsibility. Been their done that sold the T-shirt.

Turns out I have to work at least til the end of May and then sporadically throughout the summer as things happen. 10 month job, hunh? LOL Well, at least I can get prepared for the coming year and not feel like a persona non grata on campus!

It is 6:00 and I am watching some dark clouds come in from the West. I am going to get dressed in spite of them and get ready to go out. Only 60 deg, only supposed to get to 70, but I have stuff to do and this is perfect planting weather, even and especially if it rains!

The birds are 11 days old, and are already showing black and white striped feathers. They are becoming less fearful and more inquisitive; checking out who brings them water and food. And they eat so much food! LOL their feeder has to be filled twice a day.

I got a lot of seedlings and seeds planted yesterday; a row and a half of potatoes alone. Today I hope to finish up. The two cleanouts from the brooder I mixed in with my other compost, put in the wheelbarrow, added water to make a mush, and used in the potato garden. I have to clean the brooder again today; the compost pile is getting pretty skimpy since I plowed everything in to the other garden rows! More horse poop to fork from the corral is needed.

Larry told me the other night at the bar that he was going to wait to put in tomatoes til he gets back from California in June, because the soil won't be warmed up until then. It is a puzzlement to me why no one grows lettuce, greens, broccoli, etc here; the weather is so cool except from late June thru July that nothing would go to seed until very late! We shall see how the section of collards does; foks around here have never seen them, and they can get to be soo bushy!

The lilacs out front are blooming and smell so sweetly. I finished cleaning out the pond and filled it. The wheat in the East Garden is already two inches high! The daylilies I transplanted here are springing up, and everything is in growth mode. The tulips scattered haphazardly around the yard were pathetic this year; only one bloom. I didn't even know they were there until they came up this year! I'll have to dig them, separate them, and put them in real beds this year to protect them from both weather and the lawnmower. Still don't understand plants just stuck in holes here and there, with no cohesion, no mulch, nothing. WTF? How do you expect anything to grow and produce if you don't protect it? The strawberries are cheerfully poking their heads up, the gooseberries are taking off, and the new blueberry blooms got nipped by the frost this week but are fine. Last year's cherry tree has blooms. The new apricot, apple, and plum trees have baby leaves.

The nice thing is that I have so much property that I can finally grow whatever I want. There is sooo much room! Ummm radishes, carrots, things that I couldn't grow in clay will do great in the sandy soil here. Mike made me another sprinkler on a tripod for the East garden, and I have the one on the West garden already. He put weed n feed on the lawn, and sandburr killer behind the West garden. He even sprayed the yard dandelions! I love the grass here; so soft and green, not weedy and harsh underfoot when it's cut, like before. Mike told Janet that he used to mow the yard with a weedeater because we had so many plants that a lawnmower couldn't deal with it.

Tammy is in Vegas again this week; I invited her and her boyfriend out but she is busy playing and probably won't come. Can't blame her there!

The High School graduation was last night; 14 graduates. What great kids! Their class colors were hot pink and lime green, their theme song was "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and their class motto was "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door". The whole graduation was lively and silly and crazy, but very moving; the kids stepped down off the stage and took their parents flowers. Afterward we were invited to two graduation parties; I had some glazed grad statues in my ceramics shop, and one was a blond girl, the other a dark-haired boy. Oddly, that described the two kids who invited us to the parties! So I painted each of the two grad's names on the statues, and attached an orange tassel to each cap - and then wired a $10 bill onto each tassel.

One more full week of work, and then I'll have more time to work in the garden! This is the perfect job for what I want to do with the rest of my life.

Beginnings Of Birds

Well, the Barred Rock chickens I ordered came in this AM. They were hatched, sexed and shipped on the 6th from MO. I have 11 cockerels and 11 hens - 2 more than I ordered; most places do that, just in case.

I was expecting Nancy to call this AM before I left for work; but by 7:10 she hadn't, so I went on in. More than half of the students will be gone today; we figure on only about 20-25 at school. Most of the teachers are gone, too - we are having to double up in classes. As I was getting the coffee on and the Daily and Staff bulletins ready - and getting some cheerful picking-on by the staff who knew I was waiting for the call - Mike called and said that Nancy had just called, the chickens were at the PO. So I finished up quickly and left!

As soon as we got them home, we took them downstairs. We had warm water for them in the dispenser, and I took each chick out of the box, dipped his/her little beak in the water, and they went right to drinking. Then I scattered the chick starter on the paper towels, and they immediately started eating it. I filled the food dispenser and some wandered over to it, too. I went back downstairs an hour later and they had pretty much eaten what I had scattered already, so I fed them again!

They are all pretty cheerful and active. I am watching them very carefully; if they group up under the heat lamp, they are too cold - if they are in a circle outside of the lamp circumference, they are too hot under the lamp. Since it is only in the 60's here - with a sharp, cold north wind - they have to be kept warm and inside for awhile til they get real feathers.

Phydeaux is slightly interested in them; he keeps standing at the head of the basement stairs and listening to the soft peep-peep coming out of the basement! He is not a stair climber, though, and his curiosity has not overcome his fear. Sasha didn't even come out to look or listen; totally unconcerned. However, when the roosters learn to crow, that will change, I'm sure! Still, she doesn't like stairs either.

I've raised chickens before of course; big fat black mamas and some little banties that used to run around in the yard year-round, laying eggs and raising babies. But I've never had just babies; there's always been a mama around to sit on them, keep them warm, and protect them. Starting a whole new generation and family "From Scratch" is pretty exciting but a little scary too. I picked the Barred Rocks because they lay BIG brown eggs, are supposed to be good mamas, and are resistant to cold temps - something I have to consider here now. The roosters will fill the freezer in about 16 weeks with good fresh chicken roasters.

Funny, the Barred Rocks are not a known breed here, even though they have been around since the 1800's. Elaine and Nancy were curious about them, had never seen them before. I hope they feather out to be beautiful and fat and look the way that they are supposed to. Most importantly, I hope that they can DO what they are supposed to!

One more step on the path to being self-sufficient.... Now, no matter what "avian flu" strikes the rest of the country, or how high the price of eggs and chickens goes, I'll have my own. Far off the beaten path, away from the hysteriacs who think that first this, then that, horrible thing is going to happen to them, or what government freaks out over some contrived foolishness or other.

Trying to Work Around Work

I've only got 4 more weeks or so left to work; my job only has me working 10 months out of the year. Which means in the summer I have 8 weeks or so off.

My problem is that, right now, I have more than two days' worth of work to do in the garden or at home! It can't all be fitted in. There is soo much to do... most folks don't understand that growing things organically means that you don't stick plants in the ground and dump bags of fertilizer; no, you have to work in the compost. You have to work at what you do. All of the eggshells and organic waste and ashes from the fire and sawdust from Mike's shop had melded into a huge pile; and the deeper I dug into it the blacker the earth was. That all went into the "small" vegetable garden; the garden where the usual truck stuff goes. All those eggshells and horse manure will add so many trace minerals into the soil!

The strawberries came this week , and the little strip along the driveway is where they will go. For that I worked in pitchforkfuls of horse manure and spoiled hay. I soaked the strawberries in my algoflash and water mixture, set them off to a good start. I got a yellow card in the mailbox yesterday, and I just KNOW that it is my blueberries, potato sets, and onion sets, but I can't get them til Monday - so I have to plant them once I get off work Monday. The fruit trees and gooseberries are on their way - I'm tracking them - they will probably be here Tuesday or Wednesday. They and the blueberries will go next to the driveway with the strawberries. And THEY will have to go in after I get off work too. Then the chickens are due next week; they will be inside for at least two weeks, but still. I still have one more row of juniper trees to put in on the hill.

I was so tired yesterday at sunset when I finally knocked off work. All I wanted to do was to take a shower - the horse poop and sweat simply did not make a combination I wanted to sleep in, no matter how tired I was. So I did, and went to bed. This morning I woke up, thinking of all of the things I had yet to do today - and then Mike whispered - "Get the Camera!" and I looked up and there were three of the prettiest little does, their winter fur coming off, standing at the pond in front.

Now I know that everyone around here says that the deer will eat everything, but I've rarely had a problem with it. I might here - the garden will be so much bigger, and I have no cat herd to keep them down. But still... They are soo pretty, and such a promise of food for the fall.

I simply can't wait til my time is my own and I have the time to do what I love to do, what I came here to do. It makes me crazy to be stuck inside on days when I have to answer the phones and get the billing done. All I want to do is get out and get sun and get to sweating and shoveling and digging. I need the money, of course - but I love the outdoors and what I can do in it!