Introducing...Zorro

Let me preface this post by saying we are not cat people.  Never have been, and I dare say never will be.  Seeing as cats and dogs are neck and neck in the popularity polls, I'm probably committing blog suicide by even hinting at the fact that I am not overly enamored by felines.  I'm not against cats, per se.  I am just a bigger fan of the unconditional love of a dog.

Now that I have that off my chest...

It appears we've pseudo-adopted a neighborhood kitty - actually it is more like she has adopted us.  About a year ago we actually caught her (and her two siblings and mom) for a brief minute, only to have to let the babies go when the mom went crazy and escaped the cage we had confined her to.  There was no way we would be able to re-capture the mom, and we didn't have the heart to keep the babies from her - or take them to the SPCA where they would probably be killed immediately b/c they were so young.  Back then we named her Zorro for the black mask splashed across her face.  

Care to guess whose reflection is on our dishwasher?  And I swear in real life you can't see a single scuff mark!  Weird!

As she grew older (and larger) she occasionally showed up in our yard, but for months we always immediately chased her off.  I was so afraid she would try to kill/eat the chickens.  However, after observing her quite a few times, it became apparent she actually just got a kick out of watching them.

Zorro striking a pose

Sweet Zorro

Over time we lost the urge to yell at her, and then we'd say hi when we saw her in the yard.  She's quite "chatty" and she began to tentatively come towards us looking for love (I'm no fool - it was most likely food).  Now she's basically our outdoor cat.  She greets us in the morning.  She even lets us pet her up.  She is still slightly skittish, but overall we've found her - I can't believe I'm saying this - to be a welcome addition to our homestead.  Fortunately it has been an extremely mild winter, or I dare say she'd have found a place IN our home - though I can't even say now with certainty that that is an impossibility. -Carrie
[Trust me, it is. -Jason]

Chicken ER (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)

[I want to preface this post by saying there are two pictures attached that are fairly gross for the faint of heart. I include them to be used as a tool to help others who may experience something like this in their flock. Feel free to skip this post if you aren't a fan of blood...]

Three months ago I went out to the coop following what I thought was a bit of excessive ruckus over a hen laying an egg. At the time I always headed to the coop with a bit of trepidation, as one or two of our black sex-links seemed to have it out for sweet Dove, and were always nipping at her. Nothing excessive, but it was constant. We kept hoping they would get over it as she grew larger. That did not happen. Even before I got into the coop I was already scanning the run for Dove to make sure she was OK. I could not find her. I checked the sleeping quarters, but she was not there. I finally made it over to an old small recycling bin filled with sand that the hens use to dust bathe in. It was there between the bin and the fence that I found her.

With a huge, bloody, gaping hole in her neck about the size of a quarter, and one bird running over to me trying to get more shots at her, I scooped Dove up and quickly took her into the house. I was quite upset to say the least. After getting a good look at her wound I figured she had a 25/75 chance of survival, with the odds against her.

This had never happened to us before, as our hens always got along great. For some reason though, Dove brought out the worst in a few of our BS-Ls (jealousy?) and they were determined to make her pay. We had never had any medical issues among our birds; and with such a deep wound, we had no idea what to do. We decided to stick to the basics, because as much as we enjoyed Dove, we are not ones to take our chickens to the vet.

In the picture there is a lighter section running from closer to her head straight down towards her back in the very center of the wound. I am not positive, but I believe that to be her spinal cord. One more peck and it would have been severed.

After gently and carefully trying to clean off some of the dirt with a damp rag, Jason poured Hydrogen Peroxide all over the wound. This was followed by a thick coating of Neosporin. Into a storage tub she went to wait out the next critical hours in our living room. She would not eat, but did drink a bit. I think she was probably exhausted from the stress of it all. She slept through the night, but by morning she was extremely antsy, and we made the decision to put her back in the coop in a completely separated area with her best bud, Leopard. I really worried that Leopard would see the wound and pick at it herself, as I've read that is fairly common. Plus I didn't want Dove in the coop getting dirt all in the wound. The nursing student in me wanted to keep it as sterile as possible. But she was so upset being separated from Leopard we figured she'd have a heart attack from being stressed and lonely, so we made the move back to outside.

Our friends Tracy and Sebastian over at Little Farm in the Big D gave us some Blu-Kote spray to apply to the wound. It is an iodine based solution. I figured it couldn't hurt. So about every other day for a week or so I would try to clean off the dirt and grime from the wound, spray it with Blu-Kote, and then cover it in more Neosporin. Thankfully Leopard never gave it a second glance.

Slowly but surely the skin began to heal. I assumed Dove would never be able to grow feathers there again, but within 5 weeks she was mostly feathered out at the site. Three months later, except for a few purple feathers around her neck (Blu-Kote stains everything - so be careful!), you would never know anything had happened to her. We have found chickens to be a mix of strength and resiliency coupled with fragility. Fortunately for us, Dove fell on the side of strength. We ended up selling the main bird that had it out for Dove. We are now finally down to a happy mix of 14 hens of varying ages and varieties, and they all get along great. More details on that in a few days! -Carrie

Green (-ish/Blue) Eggs and Chicken(s)

It's been THIRTY-ONE WEEKS in the making, but our two remaining Ameraucanas (we sold the other two) have finally begun to lay the beautiful bluish-green eggs we've been waiting so patiently to see. Leopard's first came on December 9th, and Dove's first came this past Saturday. I never thought it would take them this long to lay, but it has been worth the wait. I was surprised that they are exactly the same color. I figured there would be some distinguishing features between the two, seeing as Dove is pure white and Leopard looks, well, like a leopard. The eggs are breathtaking, though. And even better, both birds are sweet as pie, though Dove still holds a special place in our hearts. I swear if I was more country and knew how to make chicken diapers, she'd be a house chicken!

Another bonus, at least as far as Leopard is concerned, is that she's laying like a chicken-star. She's laid 8 eggs in the last 10 days. In our experience it usually takes a few weeks before production gets up to this point with new layers. Not only that but her eggs are as large (longer actually, but skinnier) as the year-old Black Sex Links, even from day one. We couldn't be more satisfied. Dove's production rate is yet to be seen. But I venture to say that even if this is the only egg Dove ever lays, she's with us for the long haul. She's too awesome, and we've been through too much with her to give up that easily (more on that in a few days - stay tuned)! -Carrie

Repurpose It! Acorns and Cheese Packaging

It's been a while since I got my craft on.  I have been so busy with school for the past year that I haven't had the time to channel my crafty side.  And while I've previously extolled the virtues of living in a small house, one thing that has suffered is my access (or lack there of) to a crafting corner.  My yarn, cloth, paints, rick-rack and baubles are inconveniently stuffed in various out-of-the-way corners in my bedroom, making it very hard to find what I need when I need it.

This morning it hit me that I was short two kids for the day, my youngest was off playing by himself no less, and I had no school work (thank God for Christmas break)!  I made a mad dash to gather supplies, amazingly was able to find what I needed, and set to work!

First up: a large, fuzzy Burr Oak acorn found during a family walk about a month ago.  This one ended up on my desk. Unfortunately its sisters place in a bag and stored at the top of my closet ended up getting a bit of mold on them and had to be trashed.  Next year I will be sure to let them dry completely before putting them in storage.  I believe these were collected the day after a rain, hence the ensuing mold.

The second I saw these they screamed "Santa!" to me.  So I set about putting a face to my idea.  The finished product is nothing spectacular, but it was fun to work on a quick little re-purposing project.  Next time I'll drill a hole in the top and put a string in it for a cute little ornament.

And second: Brie holder-cum-Christmas gift packaging.  As I was searching the fridge for breakfast this morning, it hit me that this would make a cute box of sorts to hold a small gift for my daughter.  I painted it, glued to the top an ornament I made last year out of old holiday cards and glitter, and used the shiny gold outer lining of the Brie packaging to wrap around the gift inside!  I think it turned out pretty cute.

It felt great to be crafting something home-made again.  Now I just need to buy Christmas gifts to fill the box!  Way behind on that.  Only a few days left - wish me luck! -Carrie

Getting Healthy - For Realz This Time!

In early September 2010 I wrote my heart out on this blog, and it basically boiled down to the fact that I was overweight (obese if you want to be technical!) and sick of it - ready to do all it took to change my ways. You can read the whole (though brief) series here. In eight weeks I lost 8 pounds. Slow but steady. Then came week 9 - and the aftermath of Halloween - i.e. - CANDY. I lost all self control and within about a month I gained back all of the weight. Craziness.

Fastforward to mid-March 2011. My 5'3" frame was hauling around 182 pounds. 13 pounds into the obese category if computing BMI. Not good. I couldn't take it anymore. Beyond sick of myself was putting it lightly. So this time I got serious. No-excuses-take-no-prisoners-serious. It's been 6 months now and I haven't looked back. I honestly think Jason is sometimes taken aback - seriously amazed and bewildered - that I haven't dropped the ball on this for the umpteenth time. In the last 180 days I have lost 23 pounds. I'm now down to 159 pounds. Just about one pound/week. Occasionally I am bummed because it seems like the weight is coming off S.O. S.L.O.W. But then I snap out of it and think of how far I've come. I still have about 20 pounds to lose, and that will just put me into the high end of normal on the BMI scale.

The keys to my weight loss? Very basic stuff everyone already knows but often just doesn't have the willpower to put it into place. There's a saying that goes something like this, "People won't change until the pain of not changing is worse than the change itself." This is so true. Here's a few things I've done that helped me lessen the pain...

• Exercise, Exercise, Exercise. This can not be overstated. I exercise 6 days a week - 7 if I can find the time. And on the days I don't - Jason will attest to this - I'm not the nicest person ever. I have seriously trained my body to crave it. Even if it is something as simple as taking a brisk 2 mile walk, it helps me stay on track.

• Don't Over-Eat; But Do Eat More, Smaller Meals Per Day. OK, this is like Losing Weight 101. But it is so true. I just don't pig out anymore. If I want crackers, I don't open a box and sit on the couch and chow down. Now I open the box, pull out 4 crackers, and put the box away immediately. It really seems to help me. I also usually eat about 4-5 smaller meals (or even large snacks) per day instead of 3 larger meals. This means I get to plan my next meal only 2 or 3 hours out instead of 5 or 6! That's exciting stuff! Especially for someone who likes to think about food.

• I've eaten the same breakfast 99% of the last 180 days, and I eat a salad about 6 days a week. My delectable breakfast bowl consists of (from the bottom up) mixed fruit (think pears and bananas, or a variety of berries); plain low-fat yogurt; dry oatmeal or a high fiber, low sugar cereal; raisins or dried cranberries; almonds; and cinnamon. I have yet to tire of this. It is that good. And lunch or dinner (but not both) is a dark green (almost always spinach) salad. But with loads of other goodness added on top: whole wheat pasta, tomatoes, black beans, sauteed onions & walnuts, cucumbers, feta, low-fat dressing, etc., etc. Jason partakes of these salads as well, and again - we have yet to tire of them. Not even close.
  

The payoff for all of this "work?" As if the 23 pounds aren't enough? I'll let the labs speak for themselves:

• Cholesterol: 8/05/2010 - 198; 9/19/2011 - 164
• Triglycerides: 2010 - 110; 2011 - 62
• HDL: 2010 - 51; 2011 - 50
• LDL: 2010 - 125; 2011 - 101
• Risk Ratio: 2010 - 2.45; 2011 - 2.03

My heart was literally jumping for joy when I read these numbers. A 34 point drop in my total cholesterol?!?! An almost 50 point drop in my triglycerides?!?! This less eating, more exercise thing really DOES work! Go figure! Here's to staying the course. I have no intention of dropping the ball this time. My health is too precious. -Carrie

Heritage Harvest Festival Follow-Up

Last year I pined over my inability to attend the Heritage Harvest Festival held at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello near Charlottesville, VA. Well this year I am happy to report that numerous members of my family made the trek, and my brother just wrote a post about it over at Point 09 Acres. Take a gander at his post - lots of great pictures of Jefferson's gardens.

Double Bubble: Yang Laid a Double-Yolker!

A few nights ago, as I checked the nest box one last time, I was elated to actually witness the 'birthing' of a freakishly huge egg. By far the biggest we've ever experienced here at Pigs. As Yang (one of our two biggest hens) popped it out - I knew we were in for something special.

I grabbed the still-glistening orb and ran to the front of the house yelling Jason's name all of the way. He was already in the car, about to head to a baseball game. I think he thought I'd lost my mind. But this was the proverbial golden egg, more than worthy of some fanfare.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....

Note I couldn't even close the carton!

The first double-yolker Jason's ever seen, and only my second -
but my last one was 22 years ago!!!

Chicken Scrum and Heat Mitigation

We've been worried about the extreme heat here in Texas over the past weeks and its effect on our chickens. Unfortunately it is expected to get worse - if that's even possible. This entire week is supposed to be between 106-108 degrees with the heat index around 115! Horrendous, depressing, draining - every bad adjective and verb you can imagine! We've been adding ice to their water 3 times per day, and between 12pm and 8pm, every hour, we hose the chickens down with cold water. It does seem to help a bit - but they continue to pant as if their lives depended on it - and, sadly, they do!

 

So you can imagine my surprise when I went out there a few days ago and found all of the "babies" huddled as close as they could possibly get to one another - a veritable chicken scrum! Except instead of chasing a rugby ball they were each determined to find the deepest, coolest section of dirt they could lay their feathers on. I guess they're not too bad off if they must lay as close as they possibly can to one another.  These girls never cease to entertain! -Carrie

Pears for Dessert!

A few weeks ago Jason wrote about the pear harvest we gleaned from a neighbor's tree (detailed here). Tonight I had the pleasure (truly!) of using some of the Seckels in a scrumptious Pear-Cranberry-Almond-Phyllo pastry. These things are to die for! All I did was google "Pears and Phyllo Dough" and those ingredients in the fourth result caught my eye immediately. The directions are slightly lengthy, but these are very easy to make. Unfortunately they were gobbled up so fast I wasn't able to get a picture. I will definitely be making them again in the very near future. -Carrie

Click here for the recipe!

Update on our May chicks

I figured it was time to do a quick update on the "surprise" chicks I got while Jason was out of town in May (detailed here). They are now 12 weeks old. All 7 are healthy and seemingly happy. Our initial plan to keep just three has now ballooned into keeping 6. In early August we were going to give some good friends 3 of the birds. However, they have decided to wait until mid-Fall to build a coop, get chickens, etc. So, we will keep the three Cuckoo Marans and three of what were supposedly Araucanas, but what I think are in fact Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers (because they have tails and true Araucanas don't - and ours definitely have tails).

The three Marans are carbon copies of each other physically, though there is always one that is much more trusting of us and more pet-ish than the other two. Of the Ameraucanas, we're keeping the white one (the "Blonde Snuggler" Jason referred to in his earlier post), the one that has kind of leopard-like markings (just because she's really pretty), and a more plain orange one. It was a toss up between the two orange-colored ones because personality-wise there is nothing that distinguishes one from the other. I'm choosing to go with the plain one because the other has markings similar to the "leopard" one, and I want the three Ameraucanas we're keeping to be completely different.

The leopard-print one we're keeping

We're keeping the more plain orange one in the back right of this picture

As for the white one - I think we're going to call her Dove. She is still just as sweet as pie. I told Jason today that if I were a European queen from the 1700s, I wouldn't have a lap dog - I'd have a lap chicken! And Dove would be the lucky hen. I'd go down in the history books as that crazy chicken-loving queen. It seems that at this rate I'm heading in that direction anyway. Not the queen direction - the crazy chicken lover direction! A friend on Facebook recently called me a Chick-onista for figuring out that one of her hens was a certain rare breed. I could get used to that name! -Carrie

Sweet Dove - what more can I say?

Compost Update (Way-Belated!)

While I've written about the compost efforts on our property before, I wanted to give you a belated update on our most recent (i.e. May) batch of chicken-run compost. Now, keep in mind this beautiful compost started out as free hardwood rough-cut mulch from our local tree trimmer. We also added a slight sprinkling of free straw now and again for kicks. Unfortunately I don't have a before picture, but the after pictures are a testament to the power of deep littering your chickens. This large compost pile is the result of our chickens pooping, dust-bathing, scratching, and just doing their inherent chicken-things in and amongst the mulch for about 6 months. This is what it looked like the day we took it out of the coop! The ultimate amendment for the gardens. -Carrie

Isn't she the cutest chicken-poop compost model you've ever seen???

Free School Meals: Necessity or Abuse?

It's 2 AM. And while it's not the dreaded 4 AM, I still can't sleep. Since I don't have to study (woohoo!), I figured I'd write!

An acquaintance on Facebook recently posted a link that states for the 2011-2012 school year, Walmart will feed every child that attends a Dallas Public School a free breakfast. The initiative is called "Breakfast in the Classroom". The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) is one of only 5 major school districts in the country chosen to share a 3 million dollar Walmart Foundation Grant that funds the program. The link above lists a myriad of reasons why a good breakfast is so important to a student's productivity in school, and I agree wholeheartedly with every one.

For the 2009-2010 school year, just over 80% of students enrolled at my daughter's elementary school were eligible for free/reduced breakfast and lunch. Of that number I am unsure just how many participate, but the Breakfast in the Classroom link states nationally less than half of those eligible for free breakfasts (doesn't specify lunch numbers) currently take advantage.

I love how the Walmart website states that students will "enjoy nutritionally well-balanced foods like breakfast wraps, yogurt, or fruit.." Yet this local Dallas news video link shows them eating fast-food-looking pancakes with syrup, orange juice, and what appears to be chocolate milk. But the vagaries of what they will serve is actually not what I'm writing about here today.

This can be a touchy subject and please read (and believe) my words - I know there are families/children in the Dallas area that are in desperate need of this kind of help. Walmart is providing a huge service to those families, and in turn to DISD so the school system (i.e. taxpayers) doesn't have to foot the bill. In theory it's a win-win, the private sector helping the public sector. What I have a problem with are parents taking advantage of the system and getting free lunches for their children when they have no need (breakfast has now been taken off the table for this discussion since Walmart's backing that in our city). It all comes down to priorities.

I personally know children that receive free lunches from the state/federal government that have iphones, ipods, excessively large flat screen TVs, and every gaming system/game/and DVD on the planet. And I don't mean the parents have these things - I mean the children! There is no way around it - it is completely unethical. Obviously I'm not talking about those families with a true need, but there are numerous instances - at my child's school, let alone all of the schools - where the parents choose not to buy good, healthy food for their children in favor of electronics and the newest gadgets.

In January we joined the Urban Acres organic food co-op. I had wanted to do this for a while, but $50 every two weeks seemed like an awful lot to spend on fruits and vegetables. Let me tell you folks - it is a steal. Every other Saturday I receive over 30 pounds of fresh, completely organic, in-season fruits and vegetables. Our family of five has never once been able to finish it all before the next pick-up. My kids eat at McDonald's probably twice a year - and it's usually while we're on the road heading to and from the east coast. I can assure you that many of the families claiming a need for free lunches spend $100/month on fast food when they could spend it on organic, nutritious food - and not use the government's money to feed their kids.

I guess some would say my 12, almost 11, and 4 year olds are deprived. None of them have a personal phone. None of them have an ipod. None of them have a gaming system - either personal or family-sized. We don't even have a TV! When the economy tanked in late 2008 we did what we had to to survive. We moved from a 3000 square foot house to a 1500 square foot rental to the 1000 square foot home we currently own. My three kids - gasp! - shared one room for the first two years we were in this house! My two oldest children even received free lunches from February 2009 through May of 2009. And they were a godsend. However, while on these free lunches we weren't buying souped-up cars, any electronics, cigarettes (that now cost around $5/pack! - I remember when they were like $1.50!), etc., etc. It is all about priorities. Why should someone else have to pay for my child's food because I am unwilling to? Note I didn't say unable - those people need help for sure.

I was recently talking to someone (and for the life of me I can not remember who it was) who told me that when he was a boy (in the 1940s/1950s), families who were receiving monetary assistance from the state would get periodic unannounced home checks to make sure they weren't lying about their financial situation on paper. While I am not advocating for this - I do feel like it is a major invasion of privacy - I think alot of abuse of the system would be prevented this way.

I don't have all of the answers (or even any, really) needed to address this complex topic. However, I have a starting point for many families - as I've said, it's about our priorities.

P to the R to the I to the O to the R to the I to the T to the I to the E to the S! Get 'em, people!

Let's help those that truly need it, but take responsibility for our financial situation - and the basic nutritional health of our children - when we can. -Carrie

Worm Farming 101

At the end of February I attended a vermicomposting workshop in Dallas held by Heather of the Texas Worm Ranch.  As if the name of her company doesn't give it away, vermicomposting is the act of composting through the use of various worms - in Heather's case (and now mine), red wigglers.  The first time I had ever heard about vermicomposting was about 10 years ago when my "kooky" (what I thought at the time - of course, I am now squarely in this category as well!) college roommate listed worms on her wedding registry! 

Believers in vermicomposting/worms list the seemingly endless benefits:

• Improves soil structure, enriching it with numerous micro-organisms
• Improves water holding capacity
• Improves root growth and structure
• Enhances germination, plant growth, and crop yield
• One pound of mature worms (appoximately 800-1000 worms) can eat up to 1/2 a pound of organic material per day
• In a healthy worm bin, the worms and beneficial microbes work together to neutralize odors, making them suitable for indoor use (while up until now we've kept ours outside, I can attest to the fact that I have never once smelled anything untoward upon opening our bin, despite the rotting food inside)
• Does not produce methane gas
• Worms can eat most fruits, vegetables, grain waste, manure, leaves, newspaper, cardboard, office paper, junk mail, and other sources of cellulose
• Converts waste (i.e. worms eat the refuse and poop out castings) into a great organic amendment that's beneficial for gardens, houseplants, and landscaping

There are huge "farms" dedicated solely to composting with worms and then selling the castings as garden fertilizer.  However, it is just as easy for a homeowner (or even apartment dweller!) to have your own worm bin to compost kitchen refuse.  I'd only seriously started thinking about getting worms in the last year, but wondered what was involved in getting started.  Turns out not much!  Other than the cost of the worms (a hefty $25-$30/pound depending on where you purchase them), it is possible to set up your own vermicomposting bin with almost no expense.

Here's what I did, generally following Heather's instructions:

• Use a 14 inch by 24 inch bin I had on hand (can go smaller or larger)
• Drill some air holes along the top and a few in the bottom (amazingly, as long as the conditions inside are acceptable, no worms attempt to get out of the bottom holes)
• Fill bin about 5-6 inches with chicken litter from the coop, compost, or dirt
• Place 1 pound of red wigglers on top of the dirt section
• Put a thin layer of food scraps (no meat, dairy, pineapple or papaya, minimal citrus) over the worms (not pictured)
• Top with another 6 inches of moist shredded newspaper, office paper, or cardboard (not pictured)
• Snap on top!
• Add a handful of food every second or third day underneath the paper layer (though I must admit I've gone as long as a week and they've been completely fine)
• About once every two weeks I took a hose and quickly (and lightly) sprinkled some water on top of the paper layer to keep it moist

 Bin filled with chicken coop litter

 

 Close-up of litter

 

Added one pound of Red Wigglers

 Finished product after 12 weeks!  The tiny brown particles are worm poop!  

Castings - black gold.  Perfect to side-dress the veggies or fruits in your garden!

Supposedly 12 weeks is a bit too long to wait to clean out your bin.  Ideally it is done every 8-10 weeks.  I think it would be best (i.e. quickest) to make a simple worm/casting separator screen out of a wooden frame and 1/8 inch wire mesh.  I didn't have one today so I just used a cup and scooped out the castings.  You have to be careful because you will get some worms in the cup - especially small ones.  They'll need to be picked out and put in another holding area as you work through the rest of the bin.  As you work your way down through the castings the worms don't like to be exposed to light - so they quickly retreat into the deeper parts of the bin - making your casting collection easier.  In 1 hour I ended up with a whopping 40 cups (!) of castings/excessively decomposed matter - and I only got through half of the bin!  I proceeded to spread this around my blackberries, cucumbers, zucchini, and my lone (though impressive at 6 feet tall and completely unplanned) volunteer tomato.  I then shoved the remaining worms and decomposed matter to one half of the bin, added about 4 inches of new composted chicken coop litter, shoved the worms/matter back over on top of the new litter, added 4 more inches to the other side, and then spread the worms back over everything.  Added new kitchen refuse to the bin along with some moistened, shredded documents - and we're good to go for the next 8 to 10 weeks!  

Up until now we've kept the bin outside and have had no problems.  However, now that the weather is warming up here in Texas I am sure we'll need to bring it in the house.  The problem is finding a suitable location for this large bin in our already small house.  I may need to break it up into two smaller bins.  The worms are really a no-brainer.  Time will tell if my hour spent today will help yield more impressive vegetables and fruit - my fingers are crossed - but I suspect it will! 

Heather at the Texas Worm Ranch is a wealth of information - it is clear she loves what she does!  Please contact her if you have any questions or want to get started with your own vermicomposting operation.  I'm sure she would be glad to assist you! -Carrie

Thornless Blackberry Update

Back in early March I wrote a post about planting 4 thornless blackberries in our front yard (here). With all of our shade, and the fact that I only planted 1 gallon plants in late January, I wasn't expecting more than a berry or two per plant. In the comments section of that post Dallas Fruit Grower wrote, " I'm betting that you get a crop this year" - and I'm sarcastically thinking, "Yeah, right, guy. What do you know?!? If by crop you mean 2 berries/plant, then yes, I will probably get a crop...." Well I am now officially thornless blackberry's biggest fan (and Dallas Fruit Grower's biggest believer)! I ended up getting a minimum of about 20 large berries per plant - and these babies aren't even a foot tall! At one point there were about 40 flowers per plant. We started harvesting the berries in mid April - which was also much sooner than I had expected. There are now only a few berries left on one of the plants. But all four bushes have already begun to put on new growth. I can. not. wait. for next years harvest! FYI - the pictures below were taken on May 5th. -Carrie

Harvesting Garlic

On May 5th, as I looked out over the garden, I had a sudden sinking feeling in my chest. The garlic I had so lovingly purchased from the local Hispanic grocer - diligently separated, peeled, and planted on October 1, 2010 - was starting to turn brown and fall over. All these months I had it in my head that garlic was like onions - you pull one to two weeks after the tops have fallen. Or at least that's my understanding of the onion harvest. However, as I surveyed the fruits of my 6 months of labor that fateful Thursday morning, some remote memory kicked in and I realized garlic is supposed to be harvested after the first 6 leaves start to wither - not the entire plant! Knowing if I didn't get a move-on my precious garlic would rot where I planted it (if it hadn't already!), I sprang into action.

Garlic screaming "Harvest Me!"

The photo below shows my first ever garlic harvest. Twenty-three out of twenty-four cloves survived - not bad! And by the looks of those bulbs I think I harvested just before it was too late. Nine of them were starting to rot. While the inner cloves were all intact, the outer protective covering was completely obliterated from being in the ground too long. Obviously these nine will have to be the first we eat as they won't store long at all. The rest appear to be in pretty good shape.

Bulbs on the left starting to rot; bulbs on the right in good shape

Close-up of damaged bulbs

Uber-close-up of damaged bulbs

Good bulbs

Best bulb, a nice plump 2.5-incher, next to rotting bulb

Informative juxtaposition...read more below

Perhaps the most interesting discovery is shown in the picture above. On the left is "Big Bertha" - our best bulb, planted on 10/1/10 from a regular grocery store clove (no idea what variety). To the right is a Chinese Pink Softneck bulb, and the two at the end are both Spanish Rioja Hardnecks. The three smaller bulbs were planted 7 weeks later than the run-of-the-mill bulb. They were graciously sent to me by Dallas Fruit and Vegetable Grower. I am assuming the size discrepancy is due mainly to the 7 week difference in planting time. Another possibility is that most of the cloves I planted on 11/23 were cast-offs or smaller cloves that DFVG just didn't need. I've read that it is best to plant the largest cloves possible when planting garlic, and I did do this with the grocery store set. I bought five bulbs but only planted about 2/3 of the cloves in them. Went for the largest & plumpest I could find. I'm going to give the Chinese & Spanish bulbs a few more weeks, but these too are beginning to wither away in the soil. I've learned alot from my first garlic growing season, first and foremost being to get the cloves in the ground earlier rather than later - and don't forget about them once they're in there! -Carrie

We are Alive!

Hi everyone! Yes, indeed, we are alive. School is almost done for the semester and we can finally breathe a bit.  I hope to post here again two to three times a week through the summer at least... 

A few weeks ago Jason got a thank-you card from a friend.  I got a big kick out of it.  I'd say she knows us pretty well.....

Love it!  We're up to, well actually I guess you'd say "down to", 19 chickens.  Three "barn bantams" and 16 black sex links.  The black sex links include fifteen of the "babies" we got in early February (we sold 11) and one of our original three hens - Nellie.  The babies are almost 13 weeks old, and we're hoping within the next 1-2 months they'll start laying.  When that happens we will probably find a new home for the bantams, as their eggs are smaller and in general their egg production is not nearly as consistent as the sex-links.  I'll do a post soon on our babies.  They are now bigger than the bantams!  And very sweet since they were raised by hand.  This process definitely has made us converts to raising chicks ourselves versus buying full-grown adults hens.  They are far more friendly - not afraid of us in the least.  Almost all of them love to be held and petted.  It's pretty cool.

On a related note:

 

 This pleases me greatly....

Growing Thornless Blackberries

For the last year or two I've dreamed of growing fruits on our lot.  Unfortunately we have many large trees on our small property so for the most part that means I can't grow fruit!  I half-heartedly attempted to grow strawberries last year, but of the 15 or so plants I planted I only ever had 1 berry ripe at a time.  Big bummer. I did a bit more research and found there are a few fruits that can take part sun.  I've decided to do a trial run of four thornless blackberries (1 Arapaho and 3 Ouchitas), 1 fig (Celeste), and 2 rhubarbs (Victoria).  I will do a post on the fig & rhubarb a little later.  Here I will talk briefly about our blackberries.

Dallas Fruit Grower did an awesome post back in July 2010 on growing thornless blackberries in Dallas, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here.  This is more just to chronicle my experiences (and hopefully successes!) with growing thornless blackberries.  Going on his recommendation for the area, I purchased 4 blackberries from North Haven Gardens about 1 month ago when they were having a sale - I believe they were $9 each for one gallon plants.  I meant to buy 4 Ouchitas, but realized after I got home that I had picked up an Arapaho in place of one of the Ouchitas.  Eh, we'll use it as an experiment.  Ouchitas work best for Dallas Fruit Grower, but perhaps the Arapaho will be the best for me.  Only time will tell.

Picture taken on 2/22/2011

Will plant sunflowers (for chicken treat) to right of pathway in open space

I planted the four blackberries in our front yard along the north bed (see picture above).  The Arapaho is the furthest back, closest to the street.  NHG recommended planting with Green Light Root Stimulator & Starter Solution, a 5-15-5 rooting hormone & fertilizer.  Knowing basically nothing about blackberries, I followed their recommendation.  Only three days after planting these on 1/29/11 we had our "storm of the generation" here in Dallas.  It brought about 8 inches of snow and plunged the area into a deep freeze (and I'm talking temps as low as 8 to 10F) that lasted for something like 5 days.  I didn't protect these plants in any way.  They were completely at the mercy of mother nature.  And it appears they survived with flying colors.  So far I am very impressed.  I will update you on the blackberries progress as the seasons unfurl. -Carrie

Picture taken 2/22/2011

Same plant, picture taken 3/1/2011

This is My Life

[Author's note: I'm having major problems with blogger for some reason and can not fix some of the spacing issues on this post.  So sorry for the look of this!  I guess it goes with the topic!]

I happened upon a post today from a blog I visit a few times a month. Chiot's Run chronicles the life of an organic gardener. She does this through her absolutely beautiful photography. Today her post showcased her line-drying laundry. It just so happens that I did laundry and hung it out to dry this morning as well, but I couldn't help but laugh at the juxtaposition of her laundry next to mine.

Photo from Chiot's Run. Note the nice, matching linens, and nice, light-brown clothespins.

Yes, in theory they match since they are all blue - but boy do they have a story to tell! 
Once used during surgery, these "linens" were long ago rescued from the surgery floor 
by my surgeon Uncle who couldn't bare for them to be tossed in the trash after one use.

 Grey, weathered, rusty clothespins.

Holey, stained, fairly nasty - though clean - kitchen & cleaning "linens". 

Yes, this is my life.  Recycled, reused, weathered, stained, and holey.  I'd love to say I wouldn't have it any other way - but I don't know if that is always the truth.  Sometimes we feel sort of junky with all of our various piles of compost, dirt, mulch, chicken run refuse, building materials, logs & sticks waiting to be used in the chiminea, gardening supplies, etc., etc. laying all around our small yard.  While they are in some semblance of order it occasionally hits me - "Is it all worth it?"  

• Is it worth saving every kitchen scrap to be reused somewhere on our property?  
• Is it worth bringing home apple cores left from apples eaten during kid-sporting events - instead of just throwing them in the trash at the ballpark or soccer field?  
• Wouldn't it be more aesthetically pleasing if we finally went out and actually bought some cute kitchen towels?  
• Is it worth gathering discarded items from the side of the road with the thought that 6 months down the road we can use it for something else instead of having to buy brand new?   

The answer to all of these questions is a resounding - YES!  It certainly would be more pleasing to the eye if we bought new kitchen towels - but what's the point?  There is absolutely no need to throw away these perfectly functional surgical towels just so my laundry looks pretty for my neighbors.  I can bring some flowers into the house if I need a beauty-fix.  It's completely possible that Chiot's Run could have just purchased these new linens to replace her way-past-their-prime older linens.  Please understand that I'm not out to disparage Chiot's Run in any way - that's not what I'm trying to get at here.  It was more just the shake-your-head-and-have-to-laugh-or-you'll-cry kind of epiphany when I saw her post.  Here's what I'm trying to say, and perhaps not as eloquently as I thought while it was forming in my head: the positive in all of this is that no matter what the rag - we're both trying to make a difference, no matter how small.  In attempting to line-dry our clothes - something that is idyllic and lovely and a pain in the butt all at the same time - we're doing just one tiny thing to help the environment.  And if this is my life, then I'll take it. -Carrie