Gardening begins!

First, I must say that I was tremendously disappointed by the seed distributor's seed packaging! BORING! Just look at this!

What happened to those packages with the lovely pictures of the vegetables we hope to have? Sigh....

Well, now you can have a peek at our garden.

Just like the chickens, the garden is getting a head start in the garage with a nice climate controlled setting.

Last week, we started some lettuce seeds and just look at them go...or grow ;)

This week, we add broccoli, cauliflower and peppers...

For those following our chicken tales, this one is most definitely a boy! He's a silver-laced Wyandotte. We've been told that the clues are in his very red comb and early beginnings of wattles below the eye. His legs are also larger and more sturdy than the pullets. Wyandottes are known for excellent large brown eggs - but of course we won't be getting any of those from him! We're watching to see how he gets along with the girls and with us. He has very striking coloring, so hopefully he'll stay a peaceful guy and get to stay!

Spring snow, Name that Chicken and Where's the Beef!

I had heard the predictions earlier in the week for snow, but honestly had dismissed them. Not enough to really cover the ground or stick to pavement, it just reminded us that spring is not quite here yet. Here's some of our poor daffodils with bits of snow weighing the blooms down.
The temperature is already in th 40s so what snow we had is melted.

Here's another perspective of the chickens. I think we should call them pullets now instead of chicks. Still at least 10 weeks away from any egg production, so I believe they would be considered juveniles - just not babies!

About half of the Red Stars are more brown than white, but the plumage is still very spotty.
About half of the chickens will allow us to pick them up with no fuss and some seem to welcome 'petting'.

The dark 'bonus' chicken is not one of the friendliest birds. We have labeled it as a 'him' due to the likely odds of a hatchery shipping a 'free' male rather than a 'free' female. The boys have nomered him 'Bawk Sqwauk', but we're looking for help in identifying the breed and gender. He's beginning to look like a Silver Laced Wyandotte, which is a good egg laying breed - but not roosters, of course!

If anyone out there knows something about the gender or breed of this bird - please let us know! Curiosity is getting the best of us!

On a side note, we just stocked up on beef - a side of beef to be exact. In case you ever wondered how much freezer space is needed, we can tell you that this side of beef completely filled our 9.8 c.f. chest freezer. The butcher told us this particular side was on the larger end of average (between 250 and 300 lbs). Why would we do this? The cost of the beef was between $2 and $2.50 per pound - much less than grocer prices for the various cuts.

Moving day awaits

We're thankful for rain. We look forward to the beautiful spring that is being nurtured as we speak from the rain. The only downside is that rain slows us down! Here are the chicks - still in their cardboard brooder. They no longer need the heat lamp as they are quite comfy in the garage at about 60 F (it's heated). We can't wait to get them into their roomier, but chillier quarters of their own and park the vehicles in the garage again!Remember a mere five weeks ago?
Now look at them! Can you believe these are the same creatures?

They aren't as crowded as it seems - they are curious about the camera - right up until the flash!
We still have a long way to go for the first fresh eggs, but they are looking more grown up! We still don't know if the black one is a pullet or a cockerel, but time will surely tell. In the meantime, the routine is to fill their self-serve feeder each morning. We are now filling their waterer twice a day. The chicks kick some litter into the tray and water is absorbed rather than distributed. We removed some soiled litter each morning and add fresh to help absorb the waste and the odor. For prospective enthusiasts reading about the need for ventilation in the coop, believe it! For the birds and for YOU!

A funny thing happened in the coop the other day...

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, my husband set about attaching doors to the coop. We are working hard to construct the coop carefully due to stories we've heard about predators, so my husband is set to build a predator proof building to house our hens securely. He's doing an amazing job, helped by our sons. Back to the doors...he selected hinges and latches typically used for gates and they worked out beautifully.

See? No way for a coon or weasel to squeeze a prying paw there! Just to check it out, he went inside the coop, allowing the door to latch closed behind him.

Great fit! No openings apparent from this side either....but wait!

Hmm...if you look closely, you might notice that there is nothing on the inside of the door to release the latch. The door only opens from the outside.

OK - well, there's windows, right? These two have plywood still screwed to the wall. Not impossible to deal with...if you have a screwdriver...that is outside the building with the other tools.

Did I mention that I wasn't home? I had taken our youngest to soccer practice and would not return for a couple of hours. Our older son had been helping, but had been released to practice music on his keyboard. He typically does this with headphones on. He was in that building visible through the window that was too small to crawl through. So, my husband yelled...and yelled....and knocked...and waved...and yelled some more. Finally, he was able to get our son's attention and was rescued from his trap.
Since then, he has built and attached two more doors and shutters on the windows, being careful to leave at least one door open until he modifies them for a latch release on the inside!

Another perspective of seeds....

While out shopping the other day for some upholstery fabric (yes, another project), we ran into an uncommon situation. The woman measuring our fabric was politely chatting with us about being new to the area and the location of our home in the historic district. Suddenly, a co-worker of hers burst out with 'Well, my mama and daddy lived here when those homes were built and they never liked it one bit.' The 1st woman tried to continue with the things she liked about the little houses but the 2nd woman was not to be hushed. 'Those houses were just given to people and it wasn't right. My parents had to pay for their house.'

My thought was 'hmm....well, we certainly paid for our house, so I don't understand why we're being inflicted with such harshness'. I said something about the museum reflecting that folks in the homestead houses worked for the opportunity to live in the homes and did not own deeds for the property until they had paid for them. I suppose that I was foolish to think that no one had ever mentioned this to the woman before.

Continuing as if I had not spoken, the woman said 'AND those people weren't even from Cumberland county - they came in here from all over the place' Visibly agitated, she then grabbed a few rolls of fabric and stalked from the room.

Getting the hint that counter information was not going to pacify this poor, angry woman, neither I nor my husband said anything else to her. We continued chatting with the 1st woman as we made our purchase.

On our drive home, we spoke of the poor woman and the deep bitterness that was apparent in this exchange. I truly believe that woman was going to remain angry for the remainder of the day. Misinformation planted within her family over 80 years ago still remains and leaves within her a spirit of anger over the believed injustice of it all. She reflected at least two generations of bitterness over the matter.

With our preoccupation of garden preparations, seeds came to mind and my thoughts turned to God's designs for us. Whatever is planted within our hearts as seeds surely produces a full grown plant later on. We all would like to have the lovely appearance of beautiful flowers or healthy vegetables, wouldn't we? How easily ugly weeds can be the evidence of what is rooted within. We all are vulnerable to reflect bitterness just like that poor woman. In a moment of anger, we reflect that aspect of ourselves rather than much more attractive features of our character.

The Bible says in Eph. 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

This post is not intended to bash the poor lady that is already so angry, nor to portray that I am 'better' than she. I've certainly had my own occurrences that made me angry and planted bitterness in my heart. I have been thinking of her off and on the past few days and hoping that someday she can release this bitter root within her. I also take the example to heart, to think carefully about what dwells within, to question sources of information that provoke anger and to take heed to this passage that holds the key to reflecting the love of Christ. By demonstrating kindness, tenderness and forgiveness that is only possible through His alteration of our imperfections, we can be sure to not allow this type of ugliness to take root within us, depriving us of peace and joy.

Seeds! It's planting time!

What is it about seed packets that are so attractive? I've never planted much of anything from seeds - not enough patience! The packet covers are always depict such perfection and promise! Well, we'll test our patience soon as we just placed orders with three different seed companies for a large variety of vegetables for our garden. I should definitely take photos of 'before' and 'after'. First,we must overcome the challenges of growing something from 'scratch'. Going in, we have ignorance and lack of experience as a huge hurdle. Then, the standard gardening issues of digging, planting, weeding, harvesting, watering, weeding...The more advanced concepts of composting, mulching, pollinating make sense to us intellectually, but without the timing or skills, we're a bit overwhelmed. Then, add in the complications of raccoons, deer, rabbits, birds, some type of mole that runs around under the yard, bugs and we're really up against it to come out with something to eat!

Here's the stack of books alongside my perch at the moment:

The Kitchen Garden: a complete practical guide to planting, cultivating and harvesting fruits and vegetables

Garden Planning (a book that is 95% flower beds, 5% vegetable and herb gardens)

The Backyard Homestead (that promises to help you produce all the food you need on just a quarter of an acre)

The Complete Compost Gardening Guide: Banner batches, grow heaps, comforter compost and other Amazing Techniques for Saving Time and Money, and producing the most flavorful, nutritious vegetables Ever!

Armed with all this information, you'd think we'd be all ready to go! We attended a one hour seminar conducted by an experienced gardener in town. She provided a handout with a list of vegetables, including the seed supplier and variety that she personally recommended. We're going with her list as a starting point. Next is getting a spot ready for the early seeds to get a head start as plants by the time the predicted frost has passed us by. We're hoping that window of time allows us to prepare the soil!

I'm so overwhelmed with the overdose of helpful hints that I'm ready to pitch the books aside and start digging! Oh..well, I guess I'll wait until it stops raining and the seeds arrive....

Ugh...out-of-shape body, meet JILLIAN

After hearing two friends speak positively of this dvd workout, I picked up a copy at Walmart over the weekend. Promptly, on Monday morning - I plugged in the dvd and my dh even joined me for the first 20 minute workout. I'm proud of myself for not doing my usual thing of watching the workout first from the couch before getting started. We just plugged it in and got going. The workout was very challenging for us and today, we're very sore - but it feels good to get moving! I like that the workout is short - there are NO breaks, so it's a solid 20 minutes of strength, cardio and abdominal exercises. Today, we stuck with it even though some of our body parts ache. We'll see how our resolve lasts. I'm not aspiring to show off my mid-section like Jillian does, but having a bit less of that mid-section would feel great!