Pretty Pictures......

I know it's been awhile since I've blogged but boy once gardening season hit I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  Canning season began in the middle of gardening season and things are finally slowing down a bit.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's many thousand words......

View from my house

Freeranging chickens are SOOOO over-rated

Added to the goose flock when Ethel died and Archie bonded with the car.....Heaven help anyone who tried to drive the car!!

Hot Peppers planted in an old washer insert/drum thingy.  Pepper plants crave heat and this really helped to get them off to a great start.  Organic potting soil and loads of composted horse manure makes very happy peppers.

Grapevies and tomatoes declared war on each other.  Also sweet peppers and way in back is the raspberries. 

Enjoying some old sweet corn

Puckerdude and Grandma

If ya squint your eyes real tight ya might see the feral peacock's

Peacock feather

Pretty Mushroom, no clue what it is

Silly cat hunting mouse in the old/hard zuchini's.  Yup, I had to move LOTS of zuchini when the mouse dashed under them and the poor cat was heartbroken.  You can see the mouse making a break for it.  At one point the darn mouse jumped on my leg trying to get away from the cat.  I admit I did scream a little at that point.  Mouse went up a tree and got away...unfortunately.

Canning party.  Looks like this was a spaghetti sauce day.  I had soooo much fun and learned soooo much from these great people who I am truly greatful to consider friends.  Good friends are hard to find!

Thisbe/Dizzy and introducing Obie/Oberron who is a long-haired chihuahua

From Left to Right:  Puck, Dizzy, Obie, Angelbaby

Told ya I've been busy :)  Probably should get some better pics since I've reorganized the pantry and it looks alot better now.

Shame on YOU Dervaes'!!!

http://www.baycitizen.org/food/story/oakland-homesteading-school-caught/

I can't believe what I'm reading EVERYWHERE on the net!!  Dervaes'- Shame on You!!!  You did not come up with the terms "Urban Homestead" or "Urban Homesteading" and yet you think it's fair that only YOU can use these terms?  What's next, are you going to trademark the terms "French Intensive Gardening", "Compost", "Dirt"??? 

While I do think that you are doing great things with your land, you are morally reprehensible.  It's bad enough that your website is constantly asking for charity when you don't actually teach people how you are gardening.  Yes there are lots of pretty pictures and yes you have a family of great gardeners, but how about actually helping others to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle?  Is it because you didn't invent biodynamic/french intensive gardening and can't trademark it?  If you were actually teaching others how to do what you do without charging the people an arm and a leg then you may have more supporters. 

You went commercial a few years ago and I haven't been following your site for awhile now because I just never found much useful information there.  Yes I'm glad that you can grow so much food, but it doesn't help me with my gardening and as such is useless because I won't buy your overpriced crap in your store.   Pretty pictures are great when I look outside and see white everywhere, but I can see pretty pictures on pages that have writing that explains the pictures and how the veg/grain/fruit was grown, etc.  You have just hit a new low and I am SOOOO unfriending you on facebook!!

My Mille's

Here are some updated pics of cupcake, his spots and coloring have really started to shine after his last moult.

Here are the two mille POL (point of lay) hens that I bought a couple weeks ago.  I was so happy when I saw how pretty they were. They are Sprinkles and Poppyseed Muffin.  The first pic is Sprinkles and the second two pics are of Poppy.

This is a pic from last summer of my nice holding one of her pet bantam cochins, Lily. On the ground you can see Cupcake.  He was always such a cutie!! 

Bantam Chick Pics

DH made me go to TSC to get feed even though he knew I'd been avoiding it like the plague as it's chick season.  Long story short, I have 6 bantam chicks.  lol

This is a mille fleur d'uccle chick, I got two of these so my total is now 5 mille fleur d'uccles

This is a really sleepy golden seabright chick.  I got two of these.  Total is now 2 lol

Not quite sure what type of bantam he is, either a cochin or a bantam brahma.  Either way it's the tank of the group.

This is Tiny, I know, creative.  Can you guess why she's called that?  lol.  This is the absolute smallest chick I have ever seen in my life!  She is almost a week old in this pic.  I'm thinking she is an OEGB but which kind????????  I sent pics to Mt. Healthy- the hatchery that supplied my local TSC and am waiting for them to tell me what she and the cochin/brahma is.

Size comparison.  Tiny and the bantam cochin/brahma?

Can you see why I couldn't leave them there?  I was really worried about Tiny because the teenage girls they have working at TSC were completely CLUELESS and didn't care that some of the chicks were dying in the stock tank.  I suggested they put some sugar in the water but they said that they had already put antibiotics in it. 

Funky Flemmy Pics

These are some pics of the two odd colored doe popples I picked up in March (I think).  I love their coloring although it will never be considered show quality.

Here are some of my Sandy Flemmies who are getting so big!!!

Well, Gotta Run!

Jerusalem Artichokes

Jerusalem Artichokes are an awesome perennial that can get over 9' tall.  I've read that this plant is usually somewhere between 4-9' tall.  It is native to the eastern parts of the United States (where I live).  They are related to sunflowers and have really pretty yellow flowers.   Like sunflowers, they may need staking in really windy areas (like my place).  I'm planting mine along the south facing length of the rabbit shed to provide some summertime shade for the buns.

People can eat the underground tubers which others say taste like water chestnuts if eaten fresh and potatoes if cooked.   I've read that they are sometimes called fartichokes- thinking this is fairly self-explanatory. 

Rabbits can eat all parts of this plant, which makes me really excited!  I'm hoping to (eventually) grow enough to make a significant dent in the rabbits feed bills.  Be aware that this can be a really invasive plant and almost impossible to get rid of.  Make sure it's planted where you want it to be in 20 years. 

These are fairly expensive tubers and I was lucky enough to be given some from a homesteading friend- TYTYTY Farmerwilly2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rabbit Barn

Wooooohooooooo

We got the rabbit barn done today!!!!  I am SO HAPPY!!!!  We bought a 12' x 20' shelter logic garage in a  box.  We did this because both ends can be opened up almost completely and will allow maximum airflow during the summers.  These shelters are a major pain in the butt to put up, but as this is our second attempt, things went much smoother and only took 2 days.  I highly suggest that if you build one of these, do what we did on our second attempt- anchor the shelter to 4" x 4" x 10' cants and then anchor the cants to the ground.  We got it done just in time for a big storm to roll through and I really think the cants helped in stabilizing and weighing down the structure.  I am so lucky that I married a guy who understands these things!!

We also built cages and moved 13 rabbits into the barn.   They didn't seem freaked out or anything which makes me even happier.  

We have two batches of chicks in the barn.  They are not very happy about the new surroundings, but I'm hoping they settle down soon.  The older batch seems okay, but the younger group is not happy at all!!!  I guess the old saying is true:  You can't ever make everyone happy.