Summer time madness

We live!  It's been a wild start to summer, with severe weather, the occasional flood, and a lot of work.

First, the maple syrup project was a bust when the sudden end to the winter flooded the area where the maple trees live.  This explains why we have all red maples, also known as swamp maples.  Several of our collection jugs had to be rescued from the other side of the property when they washed away.  Oh well, better luck next year with equipment that's secured in case of moving water!

Second, the chickens!  We were very successful with our first batch.  At 12 weeks, the 19 Red Rangers were processed.  I wasn't there, but Joe did a great job.  Dressed weights ranged from 3.5 pounds to a whopping hen that was almost 6 pounds!  They've been excellent eating and we've ordered another batch of chicks in August to raise.  We've ordered a variety pack of 25 meat breed chicks, so we can see what we like.  The Red Rangers were awesome back yard chickens and it's quite possible we'll go back to them, but we want to try some other varieties.  We also ordered an enclosed brooder box so the sun room can remain unscathed.  We finally reclaimed it, after many passes with a rug cleaner.

Our six laying hens turned out to be four hens and two roosters.  The two boys were rehomed and the four girls are happily living in the coop.  They're getting fat and happy on a diet of crumbles, greens from the garden, kitchen scraps, and the bugs they catch for extra protein.  We're adding a permanent run along the creek so they can manage the area too boggy and steep to be mowed or used for anything.  As Joe posted, we're starting to get eggs and he's enjoying them immensely. 

Third, the garden.  One the positive side, we've started to eat food we've produced.  The broccolini did very well and I'll be enjoying that for a few more weeks.  The Tom Thumb lettuce from Territorial Seed Company is highly recommended for a tasty, petite head of lettuce.  The tomato plants are getting covered in fruit, the bean plants are ripening, and the purple jalapaneos are booming.  Potatoes look great and the spaghetti squash is launching an invasion on the rest of the garden.  Thankfully it's trapped in a raised bed.

My herb garden is all I hoped for this year.  I can use fresh basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley, and chives whenever I want.  I also have sage to be harvested later this year and dried.  The tarragon will take more time to get established, long with the thyme.  The lemon balm looks good, but I think it needs more time.

On the downside, some of the plants were a bust.  My radishes kind of flopped, the colander never came up, and the corner where I put the spinach turned out to be far too shady.  The broccoli also did badly, though the broccolini boomed.  I had some greens bolt in the heat and I'm now clearing out sections of the garden bed to replant.  Kind of expected in my first year, but still, not ideal.

In August I'm going to do 30 days of real food.  That means nothing processed and no fast food.  It should be interesting.  Fortunately I don't have to live off of my meager production, I have lots of farmer's markets to hit.  Local meat and dairy is actually pretty easy to get a hold of here.  I expect to start craving potato chips like crazy about one week in.  Guess it's time to learn to make my own salt and vinegar potato chips.

First eggs and the first omelet

This weekend our chickens started laying. In 2 days we received 5 eggs from 4 hens. One egg was found cracked, and one more was found after breakfast.

That's a large egg carton in the picture. Our first bunch of eggs are not large eggs but seems like 3 of our backyard eggs = 2 large eggs.

I can't say my yolks are more yellow or not, but an omelet and coffee are moments away.

 

The first backyard omelet, with backyard chicken, and cheese, peppers, and onion.

I can't prove it scientifically, but this backyard omelet is a little smaller than I usually make, and it was more filling and had more flavor than commercial eggs I was used to using.