Home of Oregon Soakers Socks and Yarn
The color of the week is Black.
A couple nights ago the Dh went for a ride on his quad down into Thomas Creek Canyon. This is the usual route he takes as he checks on the Elk population. He didn’t see any Elk but he did see this, a mama black bear and her 3 cubs. I guess BooBoo, the really large male black bear is still around.
The color of the week is yellow.
Yellow represents the 75 baby chicks I received in the mail on Tuesday.
Thus far all are well. There are 50 meat birds that will grow a an amazing rate and be ready for butcher in 60 days. The remaining 25 are Delawares. These will be my production birds for egg laying. I purchased straight run Delawares so I know I’ll have some roosers. I’ll keep the best 2 roosters (sorry neighbors, they will crow) and the hens for fertile eggs. Hopefully I won’t have to purchase chicks again as I have an incubator.
We stopped about 3 times and the guys did their rendition of Greased Lightening. The crowd loved it.
Here is part of the case for the pre-parade line up.
The play is going well with mostly sold out audiences. Without this motley crew we would be sunk. Here are the brain heads, the tech crew.
It is only because of loads of behind the scenes volunteers (yes I said all this is done on a volunteer basis!) that these shows can come off.
It will end next weekend and I can say I will be sorry but I sure will have more time at home to do those long awaited chores like laundry, cleaning, organizing and of course sock making.
Here is a panorama view of my market garden. I just got a new camera can you tell?
I know it looks like a big field of white. What you’re seeing is the greenhouse and garden beds surrounded by donated carpet. The finished chicken coupe’ is on the left. Our house is way up on the hill upper left. I’m just waiting for the weather to warm up so I can plant.
Here is what the inside of the greenhouse looks like.
I’ll be glad when I can get all the starts in the ground to free up some growing space.
Enjoy your weekend…Happy Memorial Day on Monday.
I subscribe to Discovery Magazine because I like to think I am intellectual enough to understand the articles. Occasionally there is an article in there that pertains to me. Here you go…two weird items in the June 2009 Discovery Magazine.
Item #1: Page 29. Easybloom Plant Sensor. Yes shoppers for the small fee of $60 you can purchase the EasyBloom. You jab it into your soil, leave it for a day and plug it into your computer. What does it do? “It will match your local soil and weather conditions to a database that can tell you which perennials and annuals will thrive in your garden and what your existing plants are missing.” No comment.
Item #2: Page 30. Money from Muck.
“Farmers have used manure in slurry form for years as an organic fertilizer. But animal feces can be a dangerous pollutant, and handling liquid waste is messy at best. EarthRenew, a company based in Calgary, Alberta, says it has a better way: converting manure into dry granules.”
I never thought of manure (animal waste) as a dangerous pollutant. Hmmm..
So there you go, I’m off to deal with a dangerous pollutant by shoveling said pollutant onto my marion berry plants. Let’s hope I make it back from the dangerous outdoors.
Perhaps you’ve read about how home gardens are all the rage this year. Seed companies are selling out of popular varieties. The cost of soil and (gasp) manure have gone through the roof. Really, $3.99 for 2 CF of steer manure? They used to give this stuff away for $.99 a bag.
So I’ve been thinking about just how much my garden costs. Here is a great link to a blog that talks about How Much The home garden actually costs. He is trying to track EVERYTHING that goes into raising vegetables. This is a scary thought for me. This past year I’ve spent WAAAAAy too much in the way of securing my garden. The deer fence, rabbit fence, chicken moat, clearing land, moving dirt, buying dirt, buying compost, 2500 gallon water tank, hoses, hose repair kits becuase the DH cut my main line in half with the chain saw….you get the idea. I really cannot think about how much the lettuce has cost me this year. I have to think toward the long haul.
I also purchased a $40 ten year garden journal from Lee Valley Tools. This was, at the time, a splurge for me. But I can see it will be an invaluable resource. I can plan the garden, year to do’s, purchases, what works and doesn’t. Of course, I have to actually use it for it to work for me. Thus far I make lists of to do things and have noted the weather. I actually enjoy looking at it each morning to plan my day.
Finally here is an article on the 5 foods that are cheaper to grow. Keep reading and you’ll see they’ve listed the 5 items to leave to the large farmers. Basically I agree with these listings but there is something about walking outside, pulling some garlic, picking a cabbage, harvesting fresh carrots and digging some potatoes for dinner. Add an onion, cut up everything into pieces and saute’ with olive oil. You’ve got what we call 50 foot meal. Grown right here in our little part of the world. Fresh, organic and tasty. Nothing is better!
Things are growing around here. We’ve been here 11 months and boy have we accomplished alot. This past weekend we completed the Chicken Coupe’. Which is a good thing as I’m expecting chicken-etts to be delivered via USPS next Tuesday.
It just needs the roof. As you can tell, I’ve scavenged almost everything. I think the only thing we paid for were nails and roofing supplies.
The deck flowers are doing fine. Apparently the deer haven’t found them yet.
And finally, all that clover seed I threw last fall has come up. I thought deer liked clover?
And Grease is a hit. We are ‘doing’ Grease at our little theatre in Harbor Oregon. The talent is awsome. The audience, last night, was amazing. They laughed, they whistled, they cheered and sometimes the awwed.
If you want to check out some great pictures, go to Director Dori Blodgett’s face book page. HERE
As American’s we tend to think bigger is better. In the following case, it is not.
Last week I collected the eggs as usual. My hen’s are molting and I didn’t expect many eggs. I got this…
What in the world? Yes that is a chicken egg next to a ‘normal’ sized chicken egg. Unfortunately the hen that laid this enormous egg did not survive the ordeal. She prolapsed after the egg came out and…well, died. There was something definately wrong with her neither regions though. Her eggs were always wrinkled and bumpy. And last fall when she molted, she couldn’t walk. I put her in a cage and nursed her back to health. Maybe I didn’t do her any favor as I think I should have let her go during the molting process.
On a lighter note, we had a visitor yesterday. 
We’ve only seen one wild turkey ( no not the bottled kind!) this spring. Last year there were several that used to walk up our road. Maybe the bobcat got them and this is the only remaining hen. If so that is too bad. Maybe I should catch her and put her in with the chickens. That would shake things up!
