Bits and Pieces

 Happenings on our teeny tiny farm.

In random order.

Our friend, Jan, gave me the secret to his cherry tomato success a couple of years ago.  Info on the two varieties he cultivated and where he bought the plants.  Honestly when he'd offer us some I'd eat them like candy.

Backstory: we had given up planting tomatoes a few years ago.  We tried in a bed and the plants withered.  Rick's sister diagnosed it as a virus in the soil.  Then we tried in large pots with new soil.  Same thing happened.  No more tomato plants for us.
Then this year someone told me about an Earthbox.  The real thing that intrigued me was the inclusion of a material that covered the soil.  Kind of like a hair net but clearly denser.  I thought if spores of some kind were drifting in from the woods into the soil, this might help stop them.  So I ordered one, went to the local farmer's market and purchased one plant of each variety.

Holy smoke.

They are now going gangbusters.

 This is from about a month ago before they turned into a total jungle.  I also planted three full size plants in those same pots I mentioned with new soil.  The cherry tomatoes in the Earthbox are doing much better.

Allow me to model the new apron I discovered at an Artisan Market in Ann Arbor (about an hour south of us) with friend Bev.  It was labeled a craft apron but with its multitude of pockets it's clearly an egg apron for me.  I always need pockets when I go out to tend to the critters and sometimes a pair of shorts (or jammies) lets me down and is pocketless.   

Remember at the beginning of the summer I put an old wooden ladder in the chicken run with some branches arranged for the hens to perch on.  And no one was buying it?  Well, what do you know the little girls started trying them out once they were integrated with the big girls.  The big girls still ignore my creative handiwork.

For a brief moment we're moving from chonkey-land to our house.

Our living room was waaaay overdue for a paint job and for the first time in 35 years we hired it done.
ta-da...  Wow, I could get used to someone else doing all the work!

 

Before this most recent hot spell we had some beautiful weather.  Dry, not humid, mid-70's.  Kind of perfect.  It was a good opportunity to sit out on the driveway with the donks to let them munch on long grass from a different vantage point.  They loved it.

Gabby has been bugging me since to do it again but for the moment it's just too darn hot.

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Say Yes

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Can't remember how I happened upon someone's suggestion for a sweet potato smoothie, but whatever it was I was prompted to search for a recipe.

This is darn darn good.  And filling.

Sweet Potato Smoothie

I

 

Goldie Crosses the Rainbow Roost

 I'm so tired of reporting yet another death on our teeny tiny farm.

We lost Goldie sometime overnight on Saturday.  

And of course I have been plagued with the woulda, coulda, shoulda's.

So many darn things can go wrong with these little hens that I feel overwhelmed with storing all the scenarios in my head.  

On Saturday night when I locked up I saw she had deteriorated significantly through the day (we had been out of town for about seven hours) and was afraid she might not make it through the night.  And indeed she did not.  When I entered the coop on Sunday morning all the girls were abnormally subdued.  Those who have been long-time readers may remember when Dottie was fatally attacked by a hawk, I came upon the scene with the remaining girls encircling her.  All quiet.  Clearly the chickens have their own way of dealing with death amongst their flock.  

Goldie was one of the four girls we adopted through the Michigan Humane Society in August 2019 who had been rescued from a hoarding situation in Detroit.

Golda-mold (my pet name for her) had appeared lethargic in June and we administered an epsom salt soak and wormer.  She pepped up and I happily noted she was talking up a storm on a daily basis. 

Clearly we didn't fix the problem.

She was always somewhat of a loner, although she'd hang out with Fluffy (also one of the four) from time to time.

But always snuggled up with the rest of the big girls (next to Sweet Pea she was physically the largest girl in the flock) when it was time to get ready for bed.

On Saturday night when I returned to the house, in my upset state I said to Rick that I would not continue with chickens past the current group.  Done.  Tired of seeing them die.  As of this writing, to be honest I don't know if I've changed my mind.

Violet Becomes a Love Muffin

 First and foremost I'm happy to say integration of the little girls continues to cruise smoothly, mostly.  There's a bit more bickering than usual, but keep in mind there's always bickering.  You all know where the term "pecking order" came from.  And when it comes to food, nobody likes to bicker better than a bunch of chickens.

Violet is turning out to be a little love muffin.  She likes to be around me, often underfoot -- literally.  I have been put off balance on more than one occasion when she appears directly under my foot.  Amazingly she tolerates me picking her up and stroking her; this has been unheard of with our other chickens until they've been well established.

Violet and Sweet Pea are turning into my two executive assistants during morning chores

Two nights ago when I tucked everyone in for the night, the three little girls were in their chosen spots for bed and I was giving Violet a little lovin'.  Whomever was next to her apparently felt I was taking liberties and pecked me!  I had to laugh.  Don't know if it was Jewel or Henrietta.  By the way I think I'm getting better at telling the three girls apart.  Mostly by the amount of white on their tails.

We had a brief visitor to the house recently.  A friend, who happens to be a monarch butterfly expert, brought me a chrysalis that she expected to a transform in a few days.  I had it in the kitchen window to keep an eye on the development.

  

My friend told me what changes to look for and gave me a timeframe, but I wasn't seeing it.  Suddenly yesterday the beauty appeared.  From a simple photo my friend identified her as a female.  I took her outside where she tested her wings, then was still, then tested her wings again.  I was worried because it was going to dip down to 50 degrees overnight.  This morning she was still clinging to her little stick.  I'm guessing it was about 24 hours before I saw she had disappeared from our deck, launching on her new stage of life.  It was surprising how protective I felt after only having her in our "custody" for a few days.

   

And now for your amusement, I give you Sugar's version of intermittent windshield wipers.

    

Bits and Pieces

 My normal posting on Monday was waylaid; Nature saw fit to send a tornado quite close to us on Saturday evening.  No power and then no internet.  We were back up far more quickly than I would have anticipated so I thank all those workers.  Quite a bit of damage to our neighbor community.

 So there was a lot of this

However, let me be clear, I am not complaining about the noise or the lack of full-house use with this little beauty.  Not complaining at all.  We've had the generator about 10 years and I remember very well what life was like without it when out of power.  We're on well water.  So no power = no water.  I won't go into detail on how we managed to flush a toilet.

The other big event for us this week -- little girl chickens were integrated with big girls.  You may smile/laugh but it was kind of a big deal.

   They seem to have picked up the routine a lot quicker than I thought.  Of course they have a crazy pack of wild hens to emulate.

Related to absolutely nothing, I bring you three donkeys who ignore the fact the hay manger is there to contain the hay so it doesn't fall on the ground where they could consume dirt with the hay ad potentially colic. Hmm mmm.

 Now that normal life has been restored, I'll do my best to be better prepared for next week's post.

Probably.  Maybe.

Tools of the Trade - Use what You've Got

 I got so tired of walking in ick in the donkey barn.  For quite some time the three hooligans have decided the primary place to relieve themselves of bodily fluid is the dirt entryway.  A few years ago we tried putting drainage materials there, but we're back to muck.  I said to Rick, "can't you find a couple of board to use as a cross walk"?

 Basic, yet effective.  Mostly.  The hens like to use it too and often when I'm doing morning chores and they're roaming around, traffic jams erupt.  My guess is the donkeys ignore the boards.

After we found our brand new chicken waterer was empty entirely too soon after filling, I said the darn thing was leaking.  Rick said the base wasn't level and it was slopping over the edge.  Turns out Rick was right, darn it.  So he removed the wooden base, leveled the dirt floor and placed two cement blocks as the new base.  

It may need to be raised higher to avoid debris, but so far it's not been too dirty.

Of course we've talked about fans, fans, and fans.  The big girls have a fan in their side of the coop, as do the little girls.  And the donks' fan not only provides a slight breeze, but helps shoo-fly shoo the pests.

  I tend to feed the donks in the barn in front of the fan after their afternoon pasture time so they can cool down and get a brief reprieve from the flies.  I've read other chicken people complain about flies in the coops, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for us.

Finally, not a tool, but just because this never fails to amuse me, I give you the "donkey water is elixir from the gods, while chicken water is icky" scenario.

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After a quite recent trip to one of the local farmers market, we now have a 10 pound box of delicious blueberries.  This has become an annual tradition after friend Mary clued me in to the farm that has "the best" berries around.   I always end up freezing a portion but a significant number of bluebs remain available for pop-in-the-mouth deliciousness.  My second favorite (vanila) yogurt pairs perfectly with the berries and I don't hesitate to indulge.

 

Donkey Behavior -- Grit your Teeth or Smile

 Sometimes when one encounters resistant donkey behavior e.v.e.r.y single day, it's easy to lose a little patience.  And one's (no names mentioned here) voice reflects it.

Usually when I open the gate in the morning to bring in the manure wheelbarrow I let the donks graze the grass in the area just beyond the gate.  With all the rain nature has recently bestowed, it's nice and lush -- and oh so tasty.  I accidentally discovered that the donks would come back in to their hay by voice command.  When I start calling they kick up their heels and race in.  Except the day I try to get it recorded.  Of course.  

And then there are the days they are not quite so cooperative and I use the stern voice.   

I've also had to gather my patience with little Miss Sugar.  Suddenly she has decided she does not want to be fly sprayed.  The flies are at their peak right now and can eat a donkey leg raw so spraying is imperative.  But I've grown tired of chasing the Sugar Booger round and round and it's not good for either of us on a hot and humid day.  So I've turned to trickery.

The donks love love love getting brushed.  They'll choose brushing over food.  And squeeze in between me and the donkey I'm brushing to get another turn.  So now I've learned to put down the fly spray bottle and pick up the brush and give Gabs and Spice and little once over. Then sweet talk Sugar over.  When she's feeling nice and relaxed, bam I throw the lead line over her neck and hold the whipper snapper while the legs get thoroughly sprayed.

For those wondering how the little (chicken) girls are doing, a funny story.  Last night when I went out to tuck everybody in for the night, the big girls were in their assigned roosting spots and making their settling in for the night noises.  Well the little girls were in the porch drinking beer, playing rock n' roll and not at all ready for the good times to be over.  Wouldn't you know.

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Oh my golly, I just found this deliciousness at the grocery store last week and have used tremendous will power not to eat the whole box.

Non dairy "ice cream" treats.  Simply decadently wonderful.

All Calamities Diverted

 Several encouraging follow-ups. Well maybe not several, but three.  That's a start.

First and foremost Faith.
For those who missed the "Close Call" post, Faith tangled with a husky (don't know who started it) and lost the fight.  She had a pretty good rip in her throat and a smaller wound on the back of her neck.  Fast forward to today and look how good this pretty girl looks.

 

The wound below her collar has healed wonderfully and her antics have returned to normal.  Thumbs up.

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Last week Goldie got an epsom salt bath and a three-day wormer regime.  Knock on wood the girl is behaving A-OK.  No more lethary, no more standing in the corner, no more wanting to stay in the coop.  I'm not sure we're completely out of the woods but so far so good (in February I thought Lilly, along with Sweet Pea, had been "cured" but sadly things went downhill). 

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And lastly the little girls are doing quite well, growing and thriving.  

While the big girls are out for their free range time, the little girls get the run of the entire coop and they love it.  They're starting to understand the routine; after two hours you must go back inside the coop  from the run and to your own side of the coop, dividing door closed.

There was an accidental co-mingling and amazingly no one was bothered.  The little girls are almost the size of the red bantams.  But, Violet, Jewel, and Henrietta should stay on their little girl food for another two months so permanent co-mingling is not possible yet.  Based on their brief encounter, though, it should go smoothly.

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Another tasty vegan recipe that even got a positive review from Rick.

Asparagus, Radish and New Potato Salad

All right, this is Nigella's photo, not mine, but my version was totally photogenic too.

Check out the recipe here
Of course I substituted a non-dairy milk for the buttermilk (added a tablespoon of vinegar to emulate the taste)

Perfect for a hot summer day.