Happy Holidays!

It's been awhile! Just a brief update about the garden:

1. We tarped the garden this fall which will hopefully get rid of the blight



2. Our chickens got themselves a pet! Apparently there is a field mouse living in the hen house in the hay with them.

3. Not much else happening in the garden. Just day dreaming about fresh produce:




We had our annual Christmas cookie baking on Saturday. We beat last year's total again!http://countrygalinthecity.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html And this year we upgraded to an industrial kitchen. This is getting out of control!

Spring Update

I know I've been MIA for awhile. Sorry! No excuses! But here's what's going on...

Our blueberry bushes are doing great. Look at our first berries!


The chickens are laying eggs like crazy! We actually keep getting double yolk eggs that are twice as big as the normal eggs.









We are also now in the process of training them to be "free ranging" and they love their time grazing.




The garden is planted! We've started eating lettuces and radishes.


And this weekend we planted sweet potatoes and cleaned up the other potatoes.



I leave for Italy in 5 DAYS! I'll post pictures when I get back!

The birds have landed!

We picked up the gals on Saturday morning at the farmers market! Meet Rosita, Angie, Maxwell Smart, and Barbara Walters...



Within two hours Maxwell Smart had figured out how to climb into the hen house and she laid our first egg in the nesting box! Good thing she got the last name Smart!


By the end of the first day, all the ladies had laid an egg. Although none of the other ones figured out the hen house. We have some training to do!


We've had nine eggs already! I poached the first egg for Sunday morning breakfast. Mom also used our eggs in her chocolate chip cookies, which were amazing (thanks to the eggs!).

Here are some more pictures:




And our uninvited poultry visitors:

Coop part 2

Here's the finished product!



The inside with the nesting boxes and the roosting poll.


And the door to the ramp that leads down to the pen.

Coop Building Part 1

We spent some time this weekend getting started with the coop. Here are some pictures...

You gotta start somewhere!


End of day one, the pen is complete (minus the fence on the top)


Day two, we got some help from my brother.


By the end of the day we almost had the hen house done. All that's left is adding some doors/gates, putting shingles on the roof, and painting it.


Inside the hen house is a opening in the bottom which will have a ramp attached to it so the chickens to come in and out, it will also allow us to close them in the house at night. There is a pole for them to roost on at night. And there are two nesting boxes. I'll post pictures of the inside next time.

TGIS...Thank God It's Spring (almost)

Spring is in the air and I'm so ready! Chicken coop is being built this weekend (look for pictures next week), blueberry plants were purchased last night (nine plants producing 8-12 pounds of berries each!), and our first real conversation about this year's garden was yesterday.

As my dad and I were finishing our berry order, my cousins Andrew and Laura called to get some advice about their garden. That's when I realized...between my dad's experience and knowledge and my enthusiasm, we have a lot of information to share about gardening. So, I decided to give my dad some special attention on the blog (kinda like Deb's quotes section). I will be periodically giving gardening advice from Big Tom. The first piece of advice comes from a question posed by Andrew and Laura:

When do you till your garden for the first time in the spring?

Big Tom's Advice: As soon as the ground is dry enough to get a tiller through it. Even if it's pretty early in the spring (or technically late winter) it will begin to break up the dirt. It may even snow after this put it will be a good start to preparing the garden for the spring planting. Plus, it will help the dirt dry out quicker the next time it rains.

Stay tuned for more advice :)

The Great Chicken Experiment of 2011

I apologize for my long absence! Life just got a bit crazy for awhile. But I have some exciting news....We're getting chickens!

I convinced my gardening counterparts that having a few chickens around would be a great addition to our little farm. We are getting four Isa Browns, which are a cross between a Rhode Island Red female and a Rhode Island White male. They are know for their high egg production. I am getting them from a local farmer who I usually purchase my meat and eggs from at the farmers market. Here's what our girls will look like:



We are getting them as pullets which are female chickens under a year of age. I had originally thought about getting babies but I figured for my first try I'd give myself a break and skip the baby stage. These girls will be ready to lay eggs within weeks of getting them. Now to get everything ready! I'll keep you posted.