Nuggets
It’s been a week now since the nuggets appeared in the coop. For the first day or two I kept them in a brooder in the coop to make sure Broody Hen was going to stick with them. Since she did a fine job, I put them outside in a small enclosure for a day.
After that I set them free, no fences or anything to keep them safe. Broody hen is doing a fantastic job of keeping them all in line and safe from predators and the guineas, other chickens and she even fought off a wild turkey hen that was trying to sneak into the coop for a free meal. She’s a champ.
There is a greater risk of something happening to one of the chicks if I let them run freely, but I’m OK with that. They will be healthier and better chickens if I let their mom show them what it means to be a chicken. They will also be much happier for it!
I love that she’s doing such a great job, brooding little birds is one of my least favorite things to do. Since I like to have them outside on grass as soon as possible, it gets tedious carrying them out and bringing them in again in the evenings. I’m happy knowing there’s a great hen doing what she was born to do!
Have you spotted any babies in your garden yet?
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Quote of the Day: Organic Gardening
“The only two herbicides we recommend are cultivation and mulching.”…Organic Gardening Magazine
I noticed while working in the garden yesterday that the weeds are starting to germinate. Mulching and smothering is my preferred method of dealing with weeds, especially the tenacious ones. Right now half of my main garden is being smothered, it will remain fallow this year and I should be able to plant next year.
I’m also adding cardboard and feed bags around the little pottage in the back to smother the weeds around the edges. Every year in grows by a few feet thanks to smothering. This method takes patience, but it works very well. Sometimes you’ll need to smother for two years to get rid of vigorous perennial weeds.
My biggest method for controlling weeds is no till gardening. It’s amazing how much of a difference that makes in the number of weeds you have. The first year or two are spent hand weeding to get rid of any weeds from seed or root, after that initial flush the garden settles into a calm. There are weeds here and there, but nothing like there are when tilling.
How do you deal with weeds in your garden?
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Small Farm Food
If you’ve been reading here long you know I’m a big advocate of local and small farm food. Just because I try to eat locally doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy food from afar. Growing up in Colombia gave me a taste for all things tropical. Just like the rest of the food in my diet I source my tropical goodies from small farms as well. We live in a day and age that makes that very easy.
Yesterday I received a beautiful box of avocados from Fairview Orchards in California. I received 18 beautiful avocados, wonderfully fresh. They were picked Monday and arrived at my place on Friday morning (they were supposed to arrive Wed, but the USPS 2-day Priority isn’t what it used to be).
I’m super excited to be able to eat avocados till my heart’s content. They’ll be on the menu every morning with eggs (one of our favorite ways to enjoy them). No doubt some of them will be mashed, mixed with lemon juice and frozen for future enjoyment and I might even get crazy and make a batch of that avocado ice cream I’ve heard so much about. If you’re looking for sources of small farm favorites, check LocalHarvest.org, they are a great resource for all things local and small farm.
What’s your favorite fruit/vegetable from afar that’s not local to your area?
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It’s Coming Together
Last year I added pathways to the small potager behind the house. I added a small circular bed to the middle with pathways that crossed diagonally. Only the circular bed got lined with rocks, I didn’t have enough time to line the pathways as well.
Last summer had I trouble with the mulch from the pathways ending up in my garden beds and the compost from my garden beds in my pathways. I decided to line them with rocks to help with the problem. Eventually the paths will be paved with stones or bricks, but until then this will do.
It took me a long time to find enough stones, but I’m just about finished. Now I need to get out my chipper to make mulch for the pathways. This little garden is the one I’m expanding this year, I mentioned that last week.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this garden progresses over the season. Last year it was a veritable jungle.
Do you have any garden changes planned this year?
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Loaves and Fishes (or Guineas and Ducks)
I’ve been keeping a keen eye on the guinea fowl trying to figure out where they’re laying their eggs. They don’t like to lay in the coop, preferring to find a secluded spot in the brush somewhere, generally somewhere completely inconvenient and perfect for predators to get them.
I had a chicken that was laying eggs in a pile of pine boughs that came down during the big ice storm this past winter. Two days ago I found 2 guinea eggs in the nest. The next day there were 9 guinea eggs in the nest, yesterday there were 18 eggs in the nest. We also had a hen that hatched out 15 keets that we brooded ourselves, these are members of our current flock. With 7-9 guinea hens laying eggs, this nest will fill up very quickly. I’ll collect some of the eggs but leave most of them hoping to have them sit on this nest which I can keep an eye on. Guinea eggs are delicious, the yolks are very big so I’ll probable use them to make custard or ice cream.
Last fall we had a guinea hatch out a few keets, though none of them made it. Guineas are notoriously bad mothers. I’m planning on letting nature take it’s course with these, though I have lots of people interested in purchasing keets so I might try to steal some to sell. I also have four muscovy hens sitting on nests right now. These birds are multiplying to Biblical proportions – never a dull moment around here!
What’s the craziest kind of egg you have eaten?
