Chickens are growing

Chicken number two

Rooster

The three chickens are getting used to things around here. They arrived one hot day in the summer. Now that we've had rain, frost, and a few good north winds with downpours, they're no longer running into their coop with the slightest bit of rain or wind. They generally spend most of the day outside, foraging for plants, bugs, worms, and seeds. They do get particularly excited about worms, so if I find one that is waterlogged on the pavement, I'll take it back to the birds where they pick it up and carry it around, keeping it from one another.

Last week they had a visit from a small hawk. I heard the hens making an uproar and looked out to see them in a flap with a small hawk. The hens fought the small bird off, sending it to a nearby branch, and when I went out to check on the birds the hawk flew off. Assessing the scene I noted the rooster napping nearby while the hens were in rather a froth about the fight. I felt a tinge of pride in those two hens. They all went into the coop for a while, and then came out again a bit later.

The rooster is working on getting his crow just right. He's not singing his song regularly, but more frequently now. Some days his tone is a little better than others. I think with practice he'll have a nice bel canto crow with which to express himself. His black feathers have a lovely greenish sheen in the light and he's learning to share!

The hens have established their peck order and it was heavily enforced for weeks, and now they've seemed to relax about it a bit.

One unexpected delight for me is the sound they make when they drink water. They dip their beaks into the container of water, then tilt back their heads and make a gentle tapping sound while they swallow the water. It is such a simple act, taking a drink of water, but I love watching and listening to them while they do it.

One recent weekend day I let them have free run of the entire back yard. Anywhere they wanted to go I'd let them. I was working out in the garden most of the day and they made their way to points previously not visited. They roamed around—a little cluster of black and white—and explored their larger world. They generally have about 100 ft of fence to explore, but that day they roamed near the apple trees, across the small lawn, and a bit into the main food garden. When they got back to their familiar rosemary bush in the afternoon, I started closing up the fencing so they'd be sure to find their way back into their coop when the time came.

I find it very beneficial to have the birds as part of the garden. I do not feel sentimental about them as pets (though I'm warned that may come) but I do like having them as workers in the garden. Like our cat makes our house feel warmer and comfortable to us, the chickens make the garden feel more alive to me. They are fertilizing and eating bugs, and creating movement out there. I can usually see them from my desk, and when I feel like taking a break, I'll head out to watch them for a while.

Pumpkin pie experiment

This week I cut apart one of the Winter Luxury pie pumpkins and roasted it in the oven, then made a pie out of the pulp. The flavor and texture were both delicate and wonderful. And the pumpkin produced many seeds, which I saved for growing more of these delicious pumpkins next year. In the past I have made my pumpkin pies out of butternut squash flesh and they have been delicious, but this winter luxury pie pumpkin has a much more subtle and refined flavor. I cut down on the amount of spices which the recipe called for, to allow the pumpkin flavor to be available to the palate. This pumpkin definitely lives up the the description I read in the Nichols Garden catalog which states:

Beautiful 5 lb, 10" diameter, netted pumpkin is what every pie pumpkin promises but rarely delivers. Completely smooth, thick flesh cooks to a rich mellow flavor. A friend asked a market vendor to recommend a pie pumpkin; she reached under the counter and exclaimed, "This will be the bes you've ever had," as she brought out a Winter Luxury Pie.

The pumpkin I used was the largest of the harvest and produced six cups of cooked flesh, enough to make three pies total. I froze the remaining flesh in two-cup increments. I'll be ready to make another pie soon.

Hot weather in early fall

We've been having a bit of a heat wave here, with temperatures in the high 90s and even cresting 100. My chicken books say that hot temperatures can be deadly for  chickens, so I've hooked up a fine mist sprinkler to spray over one part of their outdoor pen to cool the air down. I've been refreshing their water several times a day to keep it cool, and they seem to be doing fine. The male will even stand under the mist, while the females tend to avoid it.

In early September we had cooler weather and so I started thinking about taking fall cuttings of some plants I want to propagate. I took some lavender cuttings back then and put them in a shaded spot, close to my office door so that I would be sure to pay them the care they need – frequent watering mostly. Now I am not sure if they are going to make it with all this heat, but it'll be a good experiment. And if any of them do make it, all the better.

The berm in the front yard is looking pretty good, considering I don't water it much and that most of the plants are from re-seeding. There is a lush growth of new calendula, daikon, and fava beans. The pineapple guavas look pretty good and one of them even has a few fruits. In place of the ginkgo tree that the gopher killed I've planted a lime tree. The poor thing had a crowded root system so I pruned the roots and the top very heavily before planting it, I mulched it very well, and now it is sending out new growth, while in amongst the flush of calendula, etc. A few strawberry plants I moved out there in the spring have taken hold and are sending out runners. Strawberries make such a nice groundcover, and the fruits are pretty good too. The sunflowers have finished their show and are now ghosts towering over the other plants, as are the hollyhocks, their long stalks covered in seed pods and the odd flower.

The bamboo served as a great support for the pole beans, and it has started to push up some new growth.

Alphonse Karr bamboo with pole beans.

Detail of beans on bamboo.

Back to the garden

The hummingbird has been taking up lots of space so I thought I'd best get back to the garden for a bit. This spring has been terrible for gophers. They've been going after the usual favorites (theirs and mine) like leeks, garlic, onions and potatoes. They've expanded their diet by also eating a couple of abutilons (common name is flowering maple but they are not maples), they decided this was the year to eat up the campanula, and interestingly they've been eating tomato plants, which I had understood they would not eat. I have lost several tomato plants to the rodents and, while I've been toughening myself to the losses over the past few years, I find the tomato losses a bit hard to take.

When I look at the front yard and see the lovely, large hollyhocks in bloom, I know it is only a matter of time before the gophers will chew the large roots up until the things fall over. I'm enjoying the flowers while they are here. Life in the garden is transitory anyway. In a side note, Hollyhock flowers are frequented by hummingbirds.

The gopher situation in the back yard (where the tomatoes are) is the most bothersome. I set traps, and so far I haven't had near the success in trapping as I've had before. Though I did manage to snag one in a trap I set last night, which buoyed my hopes of at least getting the leeks to go to seed, so I can disperse them to a wider area. Leek blossoms are also rather beautiful, in my opinion. I suppose I would rather lose leeks than my fruit trees. And I am unwilling to sink hardware cloth into the soil, so losses must be accepted.

Garden walk with insects

I took bumpy walk through the garden last week and found some insects in various places. Lots of chard is in this video, and ants on the fava beans at the end.

Currants & Gooseberries

currant

gooseberry

These gooseberries and currants bloomed early this spring, and we had lots of rain and cold during and after their blooming so I was worried the berry crop might be compromised. Same situation for the peaches and apricots, all were rained upon during bloom. I went out today and lifted a prickly branch of the gooseberry (last year's wood) and found a lovely row of berries filling out quite nicely. On the black currants I found clusters of the immature fruit here and there. I still won't have enough for jelly this year, but I'll eat them out of hand when they are ripe. In the fall I made a few cuttings of the black currants and put them in the front yard, in the berm and basin area. I just stuck the dormant wood into the soil. They seem to root fairly easily, so I will continue to increase my stock that way. They don't seem to be bothered by the walnuts either, so they will make a nice addition to the walnut guild.

Spring Rain

Rainy day today. We had a good downpour for a while. Rain delays turning on the irrigation. I wish I had installed my rainwater tanks last fall. Big projects take time and money though, so I'll get to the tanks when I can. I've calculated the amount of water I can harvest off my roof by using Brad Lancaster's books Rainwater Harvesting vols. 1 & 2.

They are both filled with excellent ideas for using water more efficiently and valuable information on how to harvest water. I checked the average annual rainfall in this area (26 inches or 2.16 ft) and measured my roof area. I'd be harvesting water from less than half the roof surface, since I'd put larger tanks in the back of the house and probably no tanks in the front of the house. The formula is catchment area (sq ft) x rainfall (ft) x 7.48 gall/ft x coefficient (80%). Two downspouts in the back of the house would put out approximately 16,500 gallons per year, much more than I could reasonably be expected to store in tanks. That's why Brad Lancaster says "the cheapest place to store water is in the soil," and he advocates the generous use of mulch, and turning one's garden soil into a sponge of organic material - roots, organic matter, organism, and more.

I'm looking at getting two 1550 gallon storage tanks, which would make a tiny dent in my watering needs during the summer, but those drops add up. One of the main issues in this climate is we get our rain over half the year and then no rain during the hot half of the year. Until I get those tanks, I'll be working on building the sponginess of my soil.

Most of the water in the front of the house goes into the soil. The driveway and sidewalks drain into garden beds or to the ever-shrinking lawn. Some water from the road runs into the berm & basin I put next to the pavement, watering the plants in that garden system.

Tomatoes

Some of the tomatoes I started in pots have sprouted their first true leaves.
I'm growing several different kinds of tomato plants this year. I'm trying for a major haul in tomatoes this year, some to dry, some to can, and many to eat fresh.
Last year I got some seeds from other members of the Seed Savers Exchange. They are Black Aztec and Capuchino. I'm also trying German Pink, which I got from SSE when I renewed my membership last year. I'm growing Corne de Bouc, Siberia, Tropic, Glacier, Amish Paste, and San Marzano. I started them in pots on the sunny side of the house, in a garden wagon that I covered with row cover.
I've also rigged up a trellis I've never tried before. Two 2x2's pounded into the ground about 15 feet apart, running north/south, garden twine running horizontally between the two posts, approximately 12 - 18 inches apart. I'll plant 8 or so tomato plants under the garden twine and hope the whole thing doesn't collapse when the plants get big.
The set up will also shade a young apricot tree from the low, hot evening sun in the summer.

Food Forest

I just watched Geoff Lawton's Food Forest DVD again. It is so packed with information, especially just being able to see his designs at different ages and the close spacing of the trees, shrubs, and other plants in the designs. I'm slowly incorporating those concepts into my own half acre. I worked on the shrub layer last season, and now those shrubs are breaking dormancy and offering examples for good and less good placement. I'm also noticing my zone 1 is a little lacking and will be building that up in this season. Zone 1 is especially important to me during the winter, and my lovely red romaine lettuces were planted too far from the kitchen last season. This coming lettuce planting season (late summer) I'll plant a larger quantity of lettuce and have it closer to the kitchen.

But spring-like things are happening around here now, and though we've had a cooler end of winter than we'd like, the promise of abundant harvests is here. I've started many different types of tomato seeds under agribon, on the sunny-side of the house, and they've popped up their cotyledons. I'm starting to see shrub cuttings I put in the ground last fall starting to grow (some figs, lemon verbena). I've noticed some peach seedlings popping up where I put pits in the ground in the early winter. I'll be able to try my hand at grafting on those seedlings. The chard is exhibiting perfect eating characteristics, since we've had such a lot of rain and a little bit of warming a couple weeks ago. The parsley (of which I have many plants) is starting to bolt, and the strawberry plants are starting to bloom. The cherry tree has broken dormancy as have a few of the figs. Both of the older peach trees are blooming, the yellow peach and the white peach.

Many of the bare root trees I planted are breaking dormancy. The pear, quince and pomegranates are all pushing out buds. The plum and apricot have not pushed out yet.

The berm & basin in the front yard, which the gophers worked to make less basin-like, is bursting with daikon blossoms and the Spanish lavender is blooming too. The Ginkgo has not yet broken dormancy, but I think it waited til April last year.

Great progress was made on the ivy-removal project in the past few weeks. With more ivy gone I extended our patio space by moving in more decomposed granite. The DG is a great surface for a patio, it allows water in, it wears well, and is easy to touch up. It is also a regional resource since the Sierra Nevada mountains are made of granite and are fairly nearby.
Ivy March 2010

Ivy May 2009

The first section of patio was done in 2008, and covered bare soil where ivy had grown. That first section was just big enough for a few chairs and two small outdoor tables, but we spent many hours out there after putting down the decomposed granite. It made a lovely outdoor space in which to spend time.

Patio 2008

insects

The rosemary was buzzing with bees.

This bee at a borage flower has big yellow pollen packs on her legs.

The first almond blossoms opened today and I found this little insect visiting the stamens of one flower. I'm guessing it is a Dance Fly, Empis, but I'm not totally sure since my insect book image shows it a different angle.

Mid-Winter treats

Days are getting noticeably longer. Various plants are showing signs of breaking dormancy, while others have been blooming through the fall and winter.

Almond buds

Rosemary blossom

Leaves through the frost

The lovely leaves of red romaine lettuce made it through the frost, totally unprotected. Seen above, with some leeks growing nearby.

The collards, below, seem happier than ever with the cool weather. The frost seems to have sweetened the flavor of the leaves some too.

Both plants provide delicious leaves to eat in the winter.

Preparing for a Freeze

We're expecting temperatures in the mid 20s and rain mixed with something called snow. It won't stick, I've read, but it doesn't usually come down to the valley. When we want to see snow, we drive up to the mountains.
Anyway, the citrus plants need to be protected from such cold temperatures, so I went about the garden putting frost protection on the lemons, oranges, and limes. I still have to rig up protection for the mandarin and the kumquats, which I'll do tomorrow.
I thought my lemon tree looked as if it had a visit from Christo and Jeanne-Claude after I wrapped it in its blanket.

Remnants

Temperatures are starting to drop into the low 30s at night.
I found a few green tomatoes, hanging on to withered plants, and glowing in the sun.

Frosty morning

A chilly 36 degrees Fahrenheit this morning.
The orchards across the street were white with frost.
In the garden I found this lovely rose-scented geranium covered with frost.
Now I wish I'd made one more batch of rose-scented geranium syrup before the cold weather came.

Autumn Color

A small maple tree turned red with the cool weather.
So beautiful.

Tomatoes

Frost has yet to visit us, but it is looming, and so I've still been picking tomatoes. The flavor is milder than the tomatoes from the hot months, but it is still pretty good. I picked three tomatoes just today, the others are from throughout the past week or so.

Millet

I'm growing millet, and many other crops, in anticipation of being able to feed the future chickens (eta Spring 2010) with lots of things grown on site. They'll be able to eat lots of fresh greens and bugs too. Pearl Millet is somewhat drought tolerant and the seeds are edible for humans too, but the seed coat needs to be removed first. Birds don't need the seed coat removed before eating the seeds. Millet is sold in bird seed mixes.

Early Autumn in the garden

Maize plants with drying ears.

Some of the husk peeled away to reveal the red kernels of the maize.

Freshly painted chicken house. A second coat of paint will be applied, probably a reddish color, before the rains start. I bought the paint at the paint store, they were contractor returns and were very inexpensive compared with buying regular paint, thus the multiple colors. The door was found at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.
Looks like it used to belong on a hot water heater closet.
The house still needs windows and hinged tops for the nesting boxes. A fence, too, needs to be erected. Estimated time to get chicks is spring 2010.

Saving seed - Dry Beans

Today I threshed some of the pole beans. These are the bird egg pole beans I grew on strings and other forms of support (sticks, old wire fencing, sunflowers). I picked the dry pods off the bean plants and then piled them up and crushed the pods to release the beans. Then I sorted the seed from the chaff (winnowed) for later use. The best of these seeds will be planted next year. I'll select for good color and shape. The remainder will be eaten in soup or other meals. The plants are still bearing so this process will continue through the autumn. I prefer to thresh and winnow small batches of beans rather than do them all at once. It is a very meditative process.