Work on the Great Chicken Wall of 2014 continues. Today I’m hanging the wire fencing on the posts, but before I do that I need to dig a trench so the bottom of the wire can be underground.
Digging the trench brings out the chickens. They haven’t come to help. They are out to devour as many earthworms as possible. Their claws are no match for a shovel which can dig much deeper and expose fat, juicy earthworms.
Even though they are losing some of their pasture, they will still have this meadow to roam. In late fall, after the harvest is over, I’ll open the gates to the vegetable fields and they’ll be able to scratch through them all winter long.
Month: May 2014
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Great Chicken Wall of 2014 part 2
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It’s a Jungle Out There
Everything is wet after steady rains through the night and morning. Behind the chicken yard, it’s a jungle of comfrey, burdock and tall grass.
It’s a perfect place for a mother hen to scratch for food with her chicks. They huddle around her beak, eager to snatch up any bugs or worms she finds. This is where chicks belong, outdoors with a mother, exploring a jungle full of exciting things to see and do.An interesting fact about mother hens is that they don’t care at all whose chicks they are raising. They are communal birds and will sit on anyone’s eggs. The chicks they hatch may be those of other hens, but they love them all.
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Building the Great Chicken Wall of 2014
It’s time to build the Great Chicken Wall of 2014. There’s nothing like a dog to help with the digging. No one licks the sweat off your brow better than a dog.
The first fence post is in. Six more to go. I could use the power auger to dig the holes, but it’s more relaxing to dig the holes by hand with a shovel, and much quieter. There is so much beauty to see when you work outdoors. The foxgloves (dead man’s bells/witch’s gloves) are blooming. Amazing that something so beautiful is so poisonous.
The fence posts are in. These are the posts (see Posts – Nature’s Gift) I made back in April from young alder trees. Tomorrow I’ll put up the wire. The purpose of the Great Chicken Wall of 2014 isn’t to keep the chickens in, it’s to keep the chickens out. I need more vegetable beds to grow greens and vegetables for my customers.
Foxglove ~ Botanical.com
Plants Poisonous to Livestock ~ Cornell University
Foxglove Plants ~ About.com Landscaping
Foxglove ~ The National Gardening Association
Foxglove Poisoning ~ National Library of Medicine -
27 Days and Getting Big
The eight chicks which hatched on April 28 are now 27 days old. They are too big now to all fit under their mother at once. They are probably halfway on their way to being independent. Their mother is a Buff Orpington, and generally they raise their chicks for two months. We will see as each mother is different.When raising chicks in open pasture, a mother is imperative. Just like human children, chicks are quite oblivious to danger. They are so caught up in their own little worlds that they don’t see the hawk flying high above. Their mother and other grown chickens will, and she will scurry them off to safety, just like a human mother will grab a child who wanders off the sidewalk into the street.
Just like a group of human children, these eight chicks jabber nonstop all day long. I wonder if it drives their mother crazy. Or does she just tune it out like human mothers do?
Buff Orpington, our favorite backyard chicken ~ The Tangled Nest
Orpington Chicken ~ the Livestock Conservancy
Buff Orpington ~ Pinterest
Breeding Exhibition Tips ~ United Orpington Club
Buff Orpington ~ City Girl Chickens
Orpington Chickens ~ Poultry Keeper -
On the Board Today – May 24, 2014
It’s lunch time and on the board today are onion scapes, asparagus and garlic stalks, fresh kale, lettuce and mustard leaves. All refuse from an hour of weeding and thinning. The nice thing about cleaning out vegetable beds is that nothing gets thrown away. The weeds and stems you don’t want to eat, the bugs and bacteria in the compost pile are always ready to accept. The pretty stuff ends up on the lunch table in fresh salads and sautéed dishes.
How many restaurants can you go to where you get to taste greens that are just minutes out of the garden? People pay an arm and a leg for such exquisite fare. Here at a man and his hoe® it’s what’s for lunch every day.
The Trellis Restaurant in Kirkland, Washington, serves fruit and vegetables harvested daily at Executive Chef Brian Scheehser’s 10-acre farm in Woodinville. This is what they say on their website:
Experience Seattle’s most pure “farm-to- table” restaurant dining experience at Trellis. Executive Chef Brian Scheehser practices sustainable farming on his 10-acre farm in Woodinville. He grows and harvests fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs featured on the Trellis menu, including his signature “Two Hour Salad” with ingredients harvested within two hours of being served. Enjoy a down-to-earth wine country cuisine, lovingly planted and artfully prepared with our hands.
Eating greens picked within two hours isn’t bad. It’s not quite up to my standards, but it’s acceptable. The next time you are eating out, ask how long ago the greens were picked. Find out where they came from. It would be interesting to know.
On the Board Today – May 18, 2014
On the Board Today – May 10, 2014
On the Board Today – May 9, 2014