March 31,2019 the day’s work

Some flat leaf parsley volunteers. 

A purple iris. 

The apple trees are blooming. I actually forgot to take pictures of today’s work. I got some birds moved over from moms house.  I unloaded chain link panels and set up another pen in the front yard. It still needs wire over the top and some tarps. I’m working a full day tomorrow so won’t get a lot done then. 

March 29, 2019 the day’s work

I cleared out part of the bed of bolting kale while salvaging as many leaves as possible. 

I picked even more Purple Sprouting Broccoli than last week. 

Discovered some huge gnarly beets hiding under the row cover. 

Put a set of nest boxes in the upper hoophouse and added more straw. 

Delivered eggs and ran errands.  Moved Giotto back up on the hill. He’s been down by the big chicken house since the first snow collapsed this hoop house. Now I can get some things planted in the area he was in.  

The Days Work

Here you can see how bad the lower hoophouse is leaning.  What you can’t really tell is that the Tposts on the upside are also leaning and that the upper hoophouse crept 4-6” down hill so it is now sitting on the bottom of those Tposts.  What to do?

Well I added some boards a few inches below the bottom hoophouse to help build up some support. I’m going to uncover it, reset the Tposts and put in some end walls. 

In the meantime in the upper hoophouse I added some scrap metal to fill in gaps on the uphill side. 

I put in a couple of roosts. I also added a board to help hold dirt and make a more level area. 

And I started hauling in some straw for the chickens to scratch through. 

And in the house I managed to get a couple of shelves put up to corral egg cartons on. I even managed to wash some dishes and a load of laundry. 

Chicken Work

Worked a little on the hoophouse.  Put the tarp back on. It’s ripped a bit but will work for now. Also seeded some lettuce and snapdragons in the house. 

Spent yesterday morning filling waterers, putting out oystershell and hauling grit for the girls out of the creek.  Like all birds chickens must eat small rocks because they don’t have teeth. The grit goes to the gizzard which is a strong muscle and that’s where their food is ground up. 

Spring

So we went from a huge snow storm on Feb 22 to Spring in a month. 

The peach and plum trees have bloomed and the apple trees are budding out. 

The girls are laying in high gear these days. 

And I just spotted the first iris.  Lots of things to do in the garden, I’m behind getting seeds planted because I’ve been trying to get moved home from moms house.  But it’s a joy to be home in my own space.