The Silver Appleyard ducklings made the transition out to the old white chicken coop. We have been tucking them into the coop itself every night to keep them warmer, out of the wind, and extra safe from predators. My neighbor said that he saw a mink in his chicken coop! I didn't know that we had those around here. Five weeks old and so big already! I took this picture looking out the door of the coop. They have been handled a lot, but are still very skittish.
Peas, kale, tennis ball lettuce, sorrel, radishes, and some rogue potatoes are all growing in the main garden. I will be taking out the potatoes. I am planning to plant a bunch of sweet corn in those rows this year. And I don't want to feed another generation of potato beetles.
Remember the broody mama duck hiding under the trailer? Well, my very smart doggies discovered her nest and wiggled? somehow side ways under there and got one of the eggs before my eyes. I was mad and wiggled my pregnant self in there far enough to count at least 5 nice warm eggs remaining. Then I surrounded the whole thing with an improvised barrier of logs and rocks to discourage the dogs... seems to be working so far.
A friend came by to pick up some plants (at a distance) this week and texted me that our farm should be called "Violet Vale". They really are beautiful in the Spring. Who wants a boring lawn of grass when you can have beautiful edibles like violets everywhere?!
The hostas seem to be getting over the shock of transplantation and looking happy under the trees.
I am pretty sure that I have mentioned my plans to gradually terrace the sunny land in front of my front door and fill it with herbs and flowers. Hubby and the tractor moved some of the big logs into place to make the next level. It is full of dead nettle and violets currently, but I will keep adding compost and manure until we get the soil built up enough to plant.
The buttercrunch lettuces that overwintered are producing in abundance now that the weather has warmed.
And the Johnny Jumps are blooming happily.
I sent out an email this week to the church google group about giving away plants. No plant fair this year and can't sell on craigslist so -- I took orders from friends. Luckily, I had already scaled way back because of being pregnant so the timing is as good as it could be. More than a dozen families reached out to tell me what they could use for their gardens -- elderberry, josta berry, artichokes, rhubarb, asparagus, lemongrass, and tomatoes! I filled boxes and boxes of them and then lined them all up under the trees along the side of the driveway with the family's names on them so that they could pick them up on Saturday. I still have several hundred tomatoes left as well as good amounts of elder and artichokes. I think it was a good market test. I am surprised how many people (almost everyone) wanted artichokes and elderberry plants. Good information for next year's plant fairs. This picture is of some of what's left. I still have 3 orders to fill for Monday's pick-up.
Grandpa J might notice that this picture also shows another boxwood succumbing to the blight -- might wait for his next visit for help to rip it out again. Haha!
It's appropriate to have the next picture be of what replaced the last boxwoods that we ripped out last year. My saskatoon berry bush came back well. It will eventually become quite large and fill this spot, but in the meantime, I planted a row of zinnias and evening primroses behind it. Our little rosemary bush is also potentially going to be 5 ft tall? It is still only a few inches tall in that back corner. I worked on spreading a lot of mulch this weekend. Hubby spent most of the day chipping and our tree guy brought another load -- perfect timing! There is so much mulching to be done right now.
I received some carnation seeds from my Frenchies and they grew into healthy plants that I decided to plant along the side of the main garden. While preparing the bed I found one of those evil Tree of Heaven saplings that I somehow missed last year. This picture is to give a sense of one of the worst aspects of them.
I followed the tap root more than two feet down and it was still going. Neither hubby nor I could pull it. By three feet down I just gave up, cut it off, and filled in the hole. I think there's about a 50/50 chance that it will come back.
On the other end of the row of carnation planting -- I spied a black shiny friend. She was about 6 inches from my hand. She did not bite me so I decided to let her live. There seem to be quite a few black widows around here. I probably disturbed her home when I cleared away all the leaf mulch.
Oh the rat saga! The war is not won yet. Poisoning device received and put in place mid-week. Hubby inspected it and reported that the poison had not been eaten as of Saturday. He moved it to the other hut and placed it near a tunnel entrance. This morning I checked on the 3 remaining baby bunnies and found that their feet had been bitten up. Even the mama had a bloody mark on her back foot. It was one of the many farming moments when I was in tears as I investigated further. One baby's hind foot was almost chewed off. I had to just step away and collect myself to think of a plan.
What to do? put it out of its misery right then, amputate, ignore the problem? I came in and told hubby about the latest attack. As I was talking I decided to move the babies and their mama to the rabbit house on the other side of the backyard. I switched in a younger (hopefully feistier) single doe rabbit. The two older kids and I had a first aid session with the 3 babies' feet. After careful examination I decided to amputate the foot that was only holding on by a few tendons. We cleaned the stump and wrapped it with gauze and self adherent gauze wrap. It seems to be holding nicely. Then we cleaned all the other cuts and bites with betadine as well. My farm vet recommended it and I try to always have some on hand for cleaning all types of animal injuries, both bird and mammal.
Depending on whether the baby rabbit can learn to hobble around to food and water, he might survive. The kids decided that he should be called "Pirate" because of his peg leg. I think the other kits will recover well.
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