The Chickens Have Moved In!

The hens seem to love their new nest boxes!! As soon as I put straw in them they were all about it. There were 3 1/2 hens in one box at one point. Overall, we're both thrilled with how it turned out, at least so far.

I'm not going to post many details tonight because I'm exhausted! Brian and I haven't been in the house before 10 o'clock since Tuesday night, thus the lack of posts since then. We worked on the eggmobile Wednesday and Thursday nights. Tonight he worked ground while I mulched the garden and cleaned out the old coop. I'll let it air out tonight and move the new chicks out there in the morning.

Have a good one! :)

Spring has sprung - here!!!

I've been watching jealously as one by one my fellow bloggers have posted pictures of their first spring shoots. Now I can finally join in the fun!!

Farm mom inspired me to plant garlic for the first time last fall. I have not yet removed the thick layer of straw that covered the planted cloves all winter. Today I went out to inspect the patch and guess what - the garlic is already growing even through all that mulch! I still didn't remove it but I pulled back a good section and found several sturdy looking sprouts. How exciting!


Then I wandered over to my strawberries. I planted them last spring in a big metal pot that we found when we tore out the bushes around our house. I neglectfully forgot to mulch them over the winter so was prepared to find them dead this spring. They are more durable than I expected. I found several fresh green plants making their start already. Mmmm, I can't wait for that first batch of jam.


I planted two pear trees last spring as well. One tree didn't even live through the summer but the other is doing well. Check out the little tips already growing this spring.


I am so excited now and all fired up for spring. Last year my Mom and I went to our favorite nursery on Mother's Day. I'm hoping we can make that a tradition and find some great new plants this year. What are looking forward to this spring? How did your plants come through the winter?

One Day Weekend

After interning Friday and Saturday and picking up an afternoon shift driving carriages on Sunday, I was very ready for Monday to arrive. It seems kind of sad to me that more people don't recognize what Memorial Day is really about. I am proud of my relatives that fought for this country and when we have kids I want to take time and explain to them how important that is.

This year we didn't do anything special and like of lot of other people we took advantage of an extra day off to get a lot done around the farm. Here is a before picture of a little spot on our sideyard. There are a few big pine trees along with some large rocks and our Centennial Farm sign sits right in front, facing the road. Our garden ends just a few feet to the left of this picture. I needed a good place to plant my raspberry bushes and since this area needed a little sprucing up I decided to "kill two birds with one stone".

We don't have any hedge trimmers (I added them to the wedding registry list ;) ) so I used a hand saw and hacked off all the dead and hanging branches. I moved that rotting log and dug up a nice area for the bushes. I avoided most of the tree roots and was able to dig 8-12 inches deep. I had purchased 3 Everbearing Heritage bushes and some friends gave me a lot of "suckers" from their patch. They don't know what kind they are since they got them from a friend as well but their patch produces a bounty of large berries every year so I wasn't about to turn down their offer. Several of the plants probably won't make it due to root damage while digging them up so I planted them closer than normal. I mulched all around them with straw and watered them well.

The results is quite pleasing to look at, especially compared to what was there before. I also had yet to plant my 25 Strawberry plants. I found a great wooden barrel at an auction that I wanted to use for strawberries but that was a bigger project than I wanted for one day so I picked another spot. I can always buy more plants for the barrel later. When we first moved in there were overgrown bushes 10-20' out around the front porch. While pulling them out Brian found this great iron pot. Since it is still sitting in our front yard I thought it was as good a place as any to put strawberries. I planted them in a circle and mulched them with straw. Eventually we will move this pot and possibly even hang it. It should be a pretty sight with berries spreading out over the sides. I also planted some onions that I had started indoors and some carrot seeds.

I went back out tonight and covered everything with thick blanket of straw since, of course, they're calling for a hard frost tonight. Yesterday was 86 degrees and humid, today is 50-55ish and windy. I guess that's what we get for living in Michigan!

I ordered a couple books the other day and the first one arrived today. It is "Day Range Poultry" by Andy Lee. I'll report on it in a later post, sounds like a good night to cuddle up with the dogs and a big blanket and tear in to it!