More Eggs, Visitors, and Other News

โ€“

โ€“

Yesterday, we didn’t receive any eggs from our hens, and we started to get concerned that perhaps we had purchased older ladies who aren’t laying frequently. However, today, I found three eggs – one outside, in one of their sneaky nests-in-the-weeds, and finally, two were right where they belong – in the nest boxes! Yay! I think I may have figured out the key to getting them to lay in the boxes. Originally, I had only put in the pine shavings we use as their bedding/litter throughout the coop. Yesterday, I added straw, and they immediately became more interested in the boxes, and have been spending quite a bit of time getting cozy inside.

Even if these hens are not prolific layers, we are surely glad to have adopted them – they have wonderful personalities, and have provided mentoring to all of our younger chickens. The new-to-us hens will follow us around the yard, chatting contentedly along the way, and like to come up to the house when we are inside, looking for us and calling out. Look at the beautiful eggs they’ve given us:

We had some visitors to the farm today, our friend Lisa and the little girl, Katie, that Lisa and her husband Tom have been babysitting while Katie’s mother is on vacation. Katie had never visited a farm until today, and she really seemed to enjoy it. She helped me to give the goat girls their animal cracker treats, and was very excited by all of the “roosters” (which she decided all of our chickens are, ha!) roaming around.

My Christmas Cactus is blooming! It’s never done this outside of the December/January time frame, and it’s only a couple of flowers. I don’t know if this is typical for them to bloom throughout the year? I do wonder if it has anything to do with the potatoes I’ve been getting ready for planting that are in the windowsill in front of it – perhaps they gave off some gas that is encouraging the flowers? Whatever the case, I am enjoying them!

Last night, we tilled the garden again, hopefully for the last time prior to planting. So many weeds had returned, it was just unavoidable. I know rototilling will stir up new weed seeds, too, so perhaps it’s just a race now to get good, desirable stuff growing in the soil before the weeds take over again. I certainly have enough plants to do some “wide row” planting – which is supposed to help eliminate a lot of the need for weeding. Because there are so many vegetable/herb plants in a given space, there is simply no room for the weeds to grow. I am really hoping for a productive garden this year!

One of my projects in the near future is going to be an inventory of our chest freezer. I know that there are some items that are unfortunately past their prime, and need to be pitched. I hate to see waste, but at the same time, hate the concept of food poisoning even more. Plus, freeing up that space is going to be a vital part of being able to preserve this year’s harvest. I have a goal of not having anything I grow going to waste this year.

As a final note, I saw this article about a couple, formerly part of the IT world, who now run a dairy goat farm as their business. We aren’t the only nerdbillies in the world! (Not that I had any doubt.) ๐Ÿ™‚

Here’s to a beautiful, productive day tomorrow! Until next time…

Related Images:

Share

4 responses to “More Eggs, Visitors, and Other News”

  1. Nick P. Avatar
    Nick P.

    You are right about a rototiller steering up more weed seeds. What we do is use this wheel hoe to shave the top inch of soil to kill the weeds and not stir up new seeds. Even though it takes a little muscle to push around, it is much less hassle than fighting with the rototiller (and no repair bills). Good luck!

    1. Trase Avatar
      Trase

      Thank you for the tip (and the link!) Nick – I’m definitely going to check that out. ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Lisa Avatar
    Lisa

    I showed Katie the photo and she lit up, “that’s me and goats!” Thanks for having us over!

    1. Trase Avatar
      Trase

      I’m so glad she remembered and has a happy memory of it! Thank you for coming over. ๐Ÿ™‚ Hopefully next time, the pool will be ready, especially if it’s as hot as it’s been this week!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

seventeen − 15 =