Hahahaha.
Okay, lousy photo right now, but never fear, I am sure we will get many many many more in the days to come. We got six Barred Rock pullets & they are currently in a bin, under a heat lamp, in our bathroom. We’ll probably move them to the living room tonight, but we wanted to put them in a small space with a door until we can get a screen over the top of the bin. I forgot to ask how old these were.
Chicken butt!
Mr. Wolf and I did a quick inventory while we carpooled to work this morning. Here’s what we have planted so far:
- 3 blueberry bushes (plan to get at least 3 more)
- 1 peach tree
- 2 cherry trees
- 1 fig tree
- several strawberry plants
- 3 grapevines (table grapes)
Additionally, I have garlic and onions waiting to be planted. In the front bed, we have rosemary, thyme and sage… I hope they survived the frost. Haven’t checked. I’m sure the rosemary did, but I wonder about the others. Oh, and we of course have the hazelnut trees which, well, we’ll try again. Dratted birds. We also have the ever prevalent blackberry bushes that just grow and grow and grow. And groooowwwww.
Today, with any luck, we’ll pick up the chickens. Last week, the farm store had sold out by the time we got over there after work!
For the rest of the garden this summer, I think we’re going to go for some pole beans, tomatoes (urg), a few kinds of hot peppers, lettuce and… hm… can’t think of what else yet. Oh! Carrots! Lurve carrots.
Now, it’s 28 degrees outside, so someone please send me some slightly warmer temps, kthx.
stock photo — these aren’t my chickens!
We have:
- 1 large cardboard box (recycled, yay!)
- 1 roll of screen to go over the top, so they don’t flutter out and hide under the couch
- 1 heat lamp
- 1 bag of wood shavings
- 1 bag of feed
- 1 waterer
- 1 feeder
Now we just need the little critters, which should start arriving at our local farm stores next week. Based on our city ordinances, I calculate we can have up to six chickens in the yard. I don’t know, though, if we should buy an extra chick or two, just in case? Sad to think that way, but what if they don’t all make it? But then what if they DO? Decisions, decisions.
Is there a reader out there with experience (OMEGAMOM!) who can tell me if I’m forgetting anything direly important?
Neighbor kitty, Oliver, likes our yard.
This house we moved to is out in the sticks, but not actually. It’s, like, fake-rural. We live right off a relatively busy highway, but we have a little under half an acre and it’s a dead-end street with not too many houses. The bugs like it here. We have wasps building nests way up on the gable where we can’t reach them. Bastards. Last night a spider the size of a dinner plate ran under the dryer in the basement. Bastard. I told my husband there’s a reason I don’t do laundry… We also have plenty of flies, mosquitoes and I don’t even want to know what else right now. I’m kind of freaking myself out.
*cries a little*
Anyway, as I write this, I’m hanging out on the front porch with the wasps and a couple of spiders. We are so cozy. I can’t wait to hang out here on a warm, rainy day.
I plan to paint those chairs a glossy cobalt blue. Was going to do red, but then realized they’d clash with the porch. Wait! Don’t look at the porch. It’s all chipped and scuffed. For that matter, don’t look at the siding on the house, either.
Look! It’s an herb garden!
Yesterday, we tore out all the neglected and dead things that were not!growing in this little area and replaced them with some sort of fancy rosemary from Italy, some lavender plants from the sale rack, some thyme and some sage. And some flowering perennial thing. Can’t you tell what a good gardener I am?
The neighbors are very interested in our gardeing efforts. Pretty much everyone has stopped by to check on our progress. One lady who has lived on this street for 37 years just came by to tell us how pristine this street used to be. But, uh, no pressure. Just, you know, hurry up and FIX IT. (Okay, not really, they are very nice and have offered the use of garden tools. So we’ll FIX IT ALREADY.)
Seed-saving update: Some well-meaning soul threw away my jalapeño seeds. I’m looking in Mr. Wolf’s direction (!hi honey!), but we had lots of people over on Labor Day for a BBQ and it could have been anyone who was helping us clean up. My fault for not labeling them. My fingers are no longer burning… THE BURNING!… so maybe I’ll try again.
What. They were hot this time and there were like a thousand of them. Or thirty.
My husband rules. The “before” photo can be seen in this post, and you can sort of see a bit of the fence there too. He tore out all those weeds and that side portion of the fence. That really opened up our space!
There’s still a corner to go… behind where I was standing to take this shot.
I helped a little! I tore out ivy around that magnolia tree. That counts as helping, right?
It’s starting to feel more like home, though it’s still way too easy to stub a toe in the dark! Last weekend we had quite a spectacular thunderstorm and I stayed awake as long as I could on Saturday to watch the sky light up.
This week I rolled out plopped down the welcome mat:
It’s a cheapie, but it’s kinda cute. Unless I get something super heavy-duty, it’s just going to get trashed anyhow. I like the stars… and I stopped by the craft store for something and happened to see these on clearance:
Okay, enough with the stars. Out in the yard, the grapes are doing well:
Mr W’s been digging up all the weeds in the yard and I’ve been pulling up ivy. It’s starting to look better already. Well, you know, for a dirt patch. And we’ve found a huge amount of these:
There’s even more than this… and we have NO CLUE what they are. Guess we’ll stick ‘em back in the ground and see what happens!
Okay, boring post today. Blah blah. Sorry!
This week went by in a blur… I’m not sure we did much besides come home at the end of the workday and collapse.
Since we’re anticipating a visit from Mama and Papa Wolf, we have to get our guest room in order. Today we got some curtains hung, which will also help cut down on the heat in the house. That room pulls in so much sunlight… it’s beautiful but can be a tad warm in mid-afternoon.
Out in the garden… the blueberries are still going strong & today Mr. Wolf planted three grapevines (eating grapes, not wine grapes). And here’s my new pretty:
In the previous post, I shared a photo of the weedy yard… but not everything has been lost during the long vacancy of this house.
There are two three or four big hazelnut trees providing a partial noise and privacy barrier along highway 20. (By the way, I am often teased for saying “the [...]
In the previous post, I shared a photo of the weedy yard… but not everything has been lost during the long vacancy of this house.
There are two three or four big hazelnut trees providing a partial noise and privacy barrier along highway 20. (By the way, I am often teased for saying “the 20″ or “the 5″. Apparently this is a very California-ish thing to do and everyone here says “highway 20″ or “I-5″. Well, what can I say. When you have to take three freeways and part of a highway to get to work, things tend to get abbreviated when you’re talking!)
Ahem. Anyway. I can’t wait to learn about harvesting hazelnuts! Of course, hazelnuts are pretty plentiful around Oregon, but still, it’s fun to have your own.
We transplanted our blueberry bush — fingers crossed that it survives the move. We plan to plant a few more.
Mr. Wolf tells me there’s a Roma tomato plant in the yard somewhere. Needs water, but it may survive. I am only tangentially interested in tomato plants as they lead to sauce or salsa, but I do not otherwise eat tomato. Pardon me while I shudder.
*shudder*
And, finally… blackberries! I know a lot of people hate the blackberry vines on their property and they DO tend to grow out of control, but I don’t mind these so far. They’re growing under the hazelnut trees along the highway and in the back corner. We’ll just have to be aggressive about keeping them cut back. Yesterday I picked our first berries, though, without leaving the yard, and they were delicious!
On Saturday, our neighbor across the street brought us a zucchini and a plate of peanut butter cookies. What a nice guy! He and his wife have been in the neighborhood more than 20 years, so I’m looking forward to hearing stories about all the changes around here. He has a pretty big lot and it’s immaculate — we have a lot to live up to!
Oh, that reminds me. Apparently there used to be a cherry tree in our yard. More than one neighbor has let us know this, and all seem very disappointed that the prior owners removed it. So am I! Well, we’re planning on a few fruit trees and cherry will definitely be one of them. I wonder how long before they mature…
Have I mentioned I’m not much of a gardener?
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