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Soaking up the Sun

May 28th, 2013

Last week, we had a straight week of rainy, cool weather. The total rain amount for the week was 6 inches. It was OK for the first few days, then it started to get a little miserable. Everyone was miserable, the chickens, the pigs, the chicks, the dog and the cats. The ducks however, were in seventh heaven!
pigs at work 1
pigs at work 2
Thankfully, yesterday the sun came out. Everyone was happy: the chicks frolicked in the front yard, the pigs enjoyed their new garden space, I mowed and weeded all day, Mr Chiots mowed and built a few things in the garage, the chiots basked in the sunny spot on the lawn and Dexter spent all day hunting tiny rodents.
chicks in the grass
A day of sunshine after so much rain is appreciated more deeply than other sunny days. It’s kind of like taking a hot shower at home after you’ve been backpacking for a week!

What’s the weather like in your garden?

20 Comments to “Soaking up the Sun”
  1. Adelina Anderson on May 28, 2013 at 6:28 am

    It finally started to dry out on Sunday and Monday. Finished planting the veggie garden on Monday. Still need to get an herb garden put on the deck. Felt good to get out and get some yard and garden work done.

    Reply to Adelina Anderson's comment

  2. Jennifer Fisk on May 28, 2013 at 6:32 am

    That was a tortuous week of rain and cold.Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again in June. Made a fire in the wood stove a needed uplift of spirit.
    By yesterday afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to find my garden was dry enough to finish tilling in a winter’s worth of bunny berries. Perhaps, I can get planting this evening. I also found the lawn dry enough to mow. Makes the front look so much neater.
    I would love to let my chicks out as you have but in the past I experienced a big loss to crow and raven predation. Now I use small pens with netting over the top.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

    • Susy on May 28, 2013 at 7:14 am

      These chicks seem to know that, they spend most of their time under a big apple tree.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  3. kathi Cook on May 28, 2013 at 6:42 am

    The same as yours. I put in my tomatoes yesterday although it still seems a bit chilly,but it was too hard to keep them watered in their little pots. So nice to have the sun back! Enjoy the week.

    Reply to kathi Cook's comment

  4. Mich on May 28, 2013 at 7:49 am

    Yesterday was lovely and sunny but horribly windy, today back to normal. Rain. Hasn’t let up since it started early this a.m.

    Reply to Mich's comment

  5. Henry Bush on May 28, 2013 at 7:56 am

    We also are just emerging from a week of very rainy weather. The ducks were certainly the happiest critters around all week, and after watching them play under the drip line of the house I now can appreciate the saying: “like water off a ducks back”.

    Reply to Henry Bush's comment

  6. Maybelline on May 28, 2013 at 8:25 am

    Unseasonably cool and loving it.

    Reply to Maybelline's comment

  7. laura on May 28, 2013 at 8:54 am

    we’re to have mid-80’s all week and sunshine
    blessings
    ~*~

    Reply to laura's comment

  8. whit on May 28, 2013 at 9:16 am

    Yesterday, we could have swam in our driveway. The whole weekend was a wash…literally. That’s when I’m so grateful to have a greenhouse to garden in. While it was pouring buckets, I was tending my tomato and pepper plants and finishing off companion planting for the summer with zinnas, borage, and onions.

    Reply to whit's comment

  9. Songbirdtiff on May 28, 2013 at 9:28 am

    The weather here is perfect for summer crops. Evenings in the 60’s days in the low to mid-80’s. It looks like we are going to have a mild summer and I’m sooo looking forward to that after a few brutal years.

    Reply to Songbirdtiff's comment

  10. Kay on May 28, 2013 at 9:55 am

    We could use some rain this week. I try very hard not to water our gardens if at all possible.

    Reply to Kay's comment

  11. Lemongrass on May 28, 2013 at 10:13 am

    Here in the Caribbean, we’re at the beginning of the rainy season. Last night rain, wind and lightening. Thursday, Corpus Christi, is the day most people plant their crops. With that much rain, not much planting can be done. I have most of my stuff in small pots to put in the ground when we have a sunny day.

    Reply to Lemongrass's comment

  12. amy on May 28, 2013 at 11:24 am

    Perfectly beautiful Memorial Day weekend…..in the mid 60’s…..This week looks to be in the 80’s…..Not a fan of the 80’s…..

    Reply to amy's comment

  13. Deb on May 28, 2013 at 2:52 pm

    I’d like to get that elusive stuff called rain here in NW central Ohio. Would like to see many rainy days as that would mean I could skip wateirng the garden a week or so. Glad you’re drying out, please send it this way. :) Nice p[ost.

    Reply to Deb's comment

  14. Amy J on May 28, 2013 at 7:16 pm

    Is that shelter a movable chicken coop? or is it a house for the pigs? are they happy together? or am I confusing two different electric enclosures?

    Reply to Amy J's comment

    • Susy on May 28, 2013 at 7:40 pm

      The chicks are in the front yard surrounded by a poultry electric net fence (to keep them safe from the foxes, coyotes and other predators. The little a-frame structure is a moveable coop for them. The pigs are back in the big main garden behind the garage. They are also surrounded by electric net fencing, but it’s to keep them in and not necessarily keep predators out as they’re big enough to be able to protect themselves.

      Reply to Susy's comment

      • Amy J on May 29, 2013 at 10:03 am

        At some point I would love to see your moveable coop – do you have nesting boxes (or are these meat birds) and how to do move it – it is on wheels or do you hook it to a tractor or just pull….. we have a coop that we designed to me moveable and it is proving less mobile than we hoped and so it would be nice to see other options.
        Thanks!

        to Amy J's comment

      • Susy on May 30, 2013 at 4:25 pm

        The moveable coop does have nesting boxes with an outside access door for them. It also has roosts for the birds. There is no floor, so we keep it inside an electric fence for predator control. It is on wheels and moves rather easily. Dailon built it following the design/directions in the back of Harvey Ussery’s book The Small Scale Poultry Flock. We figured his experience would make this one a good one, so far it’s pretty nice.

        to Susy's comment

  15. Caroline on May 28, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    It’s been raining for a week!!!
    We’re looking at some sun next Monday, and then back to rain :(
    I sure hope the forecast is wrong! It’s nice not having to water the garden but good Heavens! I need some sun!

    Reply to Caroline's comment

  16. amy on May 29, 2013 at 12:10 am

    our garden is a soggy mess. we’ve had over 3 1/2 inches of rain in the past 2 days. I’m worried about our corn fields too. This is not a good spring for farmers here in the midwest. There’s rain in the forecast for the next 6 days too. I really wish it would just stop for a week or so but then last year was a terrible drought. I’m glad I decided to make raised rows this year otherwise who knows what it would look like!

    Reply to amy's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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