Author: Cabincrafted1

  Last week’s heat wave has moderated to normal summer temperatures, still hot, but mostly tolerable.  The humidity is still wicked and we must be approaching a record for rainfall, at last report, we were only 8″ from the total normally received in an entire year.  The rain has wrecked havoc with the garden this year, the weeds growing fast enough to watch them.  The beans, peppers and cucumbers love it, the tomatoes not so much.  The plants look ok, but there are very few tomatoes and they aren’t ripening.  There is a stellar crop of grapes, I am hoping when they ripen to be able to make grape jelly.

     The garlic has cured and was moved to the root cellar shelves today.

There are now 4 pints of dill pickle spears brining in the refrigerator. The frozen vegetables are accumulating in the freezer. A second planting of beans has been done, the peas will follow soon, the cabbage and chard sprouts are developing on the back deck and they will soon be planted in the garden as well.
The young hens are reaching laying age, we are getting 2 eggs a day from them and hope to be getting about a half dozen a day soon.
It is such a delight to be able to eat from the garden and know that there will be home grown produce this winter and to decorate the house with flowers from the gardens.

     Saturday mornings are Farmer’s Market day and with family coming for a week and a half, we wanted to get some meat in the freezer for them and winter and stock up on veggies, cheese, eggs, and fresh pasta for our week.  We are now getting two pullet eggs a day and have a great vegetable garden, but there are some things I don’t grow, but like or that just aren’t producing yet.  Today was a great market, live music and an art show in the street of the market block.  We left early enough to get pancakes and bacon for breakfast before shopping and arrived home early enough to start the farm work.

     One of my projects for the day was to reconfigure the chicken run to incorporate a peach tree for shade and to leave space for a Purple Beautyberry bush that I purchased a few days ago, also for shade.  The latest round of storms that we have had during the heat wave this week have uncharacteristically moved from east to west and the east window of the coop is a drop down flap with no overhang.  This has caused the inside of the coop and perches to get wet.  Another idea that I had was to create a sheltered area on the east side of the coop, also for shade and to hopefully provide shelter for that window and allow me to put their food outside the coop.  While I was moving fence and trying to figure out how to make the shelter, I watched my largest Buff Orpington, who was purchased as a pullet, attempt to mount one of the Red Rocks that are the only egg layers so far.  So we now know that the beauty below is a he, not a she…

He can’t stay in the coop and run if he is going to be aggressive, so he is either going to have to go to freezer camp or be rehomed.
The coop has been scrubbed out with a vinegar/orange/mint cleaner and new hay put inside. The old hay has been removed to the run to help reduce the mud during the afternoon showers. By reducing the width of the run to 8 or 9 feet and lengthening it to about 20 feet, I was able to erect a 6 X 8 tarp over hooped flexible poles and stapling it to the upper edge of the coop, there is now a 4 foot wide X 8 foot long shaded run that houses a small shallow pool of water and their food. The plastic poultry net is stapled to the upper edge of the coop and tied to the fence to drape over the peach tree and protect the rest of the run from the hawks.


Until I can get our eldest back here to help me build a lean to using the roofing metal left over from building the house, hopefully it will work for us.
And this was our afternoon visitor.

     Last evening brought rainbows and lightening simultaneously. Wind and hail.  When the storm subsided, it still wasn’t quite dark, but the chickens were all huddled together on the perches in the coop.  The storm cooled the evening at least 30 degrees from yesterday’s high of 95f.  Today is another mid 90s day and with the humidity, I feel like I’m back on the coast. This is not mountain-like.

    The morning is already hot and humid, a heavy haze hanging over the ridges to the north and  south of us.

     The hens gathered early for some morning treats, but will soon disappear under the coop in the shade.

I’m trying to figure out how to give them more shade and a place to put their food and water outside in the shade.  The coop is well ventilated, and the roof is insulated, but it is still hot when the air temperatures are in the 90s.

     Today we are going to venture to the garden center to see what they have in vegetable starts and seeds to begin thinking about what to put in the beds that are empty from harvesting onions, garlic and peas.  I continue marveling at being able to walk to the garden and pick vegetables for our dinners and having enough to put away for the winter.  Our city gardens were for fun, a few small boxes with tomatoes, peppers, maybe a cucumber or two and a handful of beans.  Last night again, our dinner was entirely from our garden and the farmer’s market.  Live locally and eat locally.

Life is good.