April certainly had plenty of showers and May too, for that matter. Papa Roo's garden is loving all the moisture. We have onions, potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, Italian green beans, tomatoes, and a variety of lettuces and herbs coming up at the moment. We also have watermelons, cantaloupes, and corn coming up in a second location. Of course, any garden wouldn't be complete without flowers. The sunflowers are getting tall and the zinnias are coming up nicely too. I can't wait to see the pop of color when they start blooming.
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Carrots and onions are looking good!
Can you spot the lone Sunflower? |
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| Potato plants are getting huge |
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| Lettuce is looking scrumptious |
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Papa Roo's secret for keeping the weeds out
and supplying great nutrients |
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| New lettuce starting to grow |
Gardening is only one project that is going on around the farm. Chicken girl has been busy with her flock. Since the TS (Tractor Supply) Animal swaps have started up again, she has been shopping for some new feathered friends to add to her existing flock. Currently she has about 59 chickens of various ages. Some of them are not old enough to lay yet, but come the end of June, she should be collecting 3 plus dozen of eggs a day. Lydia's Pampered Hen Eggs is a very appropriate name for her little egg business. Everyday she spends time with her girls (and boys), giving them treats, talking with them and most importantly, ensuring they have plenty of fresh water and clean roosts to sleep on. Now that the hens are laying more, not only is she selling her eggs in the DC area, thanks to Dad, she is also selling them at the TS swap. At this month's swap, she took 10 dozen eggs to sell and sold out within the hour. I cannot believe this Momma Hen didn't take a pic of her first ever little selling set up. Way to go Chicken Girl! At $3 a dozen, that was some pretty fast cash. I think any eight year old would be pleased to make $30 an hour. Heck, I would be pleased. Because of where we were, she couldn't control herself though. She had to spend some of her profits on a couple of fine feathered friends. Lol! Needless to say, Chicken Girl did come home with some cash in her pocket, along with 4 new additions to the farm. I have to admit, I payed for one of them. Yes, I too have an addiction for
chickens!
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| Ahh, a clean coop for the night |
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| Yes, it's all clean and fresh! |
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| Love the vintage nesting boxes |
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| Everything is "Pretty in Pink" |
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| Happy hens lay lots of eggs |
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| Now this is what pastured eggs should look like! |
The other big project happening on the farm now is our "Broiler Adventure II". As mentioned in my last post, we are doing it again. Only this time we are doing 150 instead of 50. I am sorry to say, they are already 4 weeks old and I haven't posted a single pic of them. We have been extremely busy with this not so little project. As before, my plan is to dedicate an entire page to this adventure. I promise I am working on it. When it is done, you will see a tab at the top of the blog titled, "Broiler Adventure II".
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| Sneak peak of all the little "meat balls" |
Until next time,
Happy Gardening
