Growing Giggles and Garden Inspiration

Sierra, 9, at Shangri La Gardens in Orange, Texas in the children's garden

Grow giggles!

Are you growing some giggles?

Sierra sure looks like she is thinking about something giggle worthy!

I love theses garden people she is hanging out with.  

The little one is named "Sprout".

.... Because he/she is the little "sprout". So cute!

I love how the old rubber boots have Spanish Moss growing out the top...

and the bushy head the parent has.  

They are certainly all giggle worthy.

All of the gardens here are beautiful and well thought out, but the children's garden is the most inspiring to me.  They have beautiful raised bed gardens and what makes them beautiful is the abundance of growing herbs and vegetables.  And everything is there for you to enjoy... and I don't mean to just look at.  You can observe it, touch it, smell it, and EAT it.  I always feel like I am doing something wrong, but they freely pick it and hand it out to you to sample and encourage you to pick and eat as you please.  

Caden is pumping water while Sahara observes.  

I love the way the raised beds are surrounded by pea gravel .  There is another row of raised beds like this to the right of the paved walkway.  To the left is the Orchid greenhouse.  Behind us is a large herb garden, an children's "potting shed" playhouse area with little lawn chairs for the kids, and a dirt pit for them to shovel and dig in.  Even with just this tiny glimpse you can clearly see how inspiring these gardens are.  

So, what are you planting?

Repurposed Items for Container Gardening

I was looking around online and found these great ideas for planting containers.  I am a believer in using what you have or repurposing something that can work for your needs, so all of these ideas caught my eye.  Gardening is all I seem to be able to think about lately.  Tis the season!!!  I shared these links with a local group of friends and I thought it might be nice to share them here, as well.  I hope someone finds them useful.  And not that you will do exactly what is pictured, but it will make you think to look at things through different eyes.  Maybe you have something that you are planning to toss in the garbage, but it can be uses as it is, painted a different way, or be completely redone to serve a new purpose.  I know I have some scrap boards from a treehouse project we are doing that I can build like a simple miniature raised bed more like a square wood pot and I can just see it being about two foot high and making it completely bottomless.  I can put newspaper (etc.) down under it and plant some potatoes in it and when it is time to harvest just lift the wooden box off and harvest my potatoes.  Maybe I need to make it a little taller, but you get the point.  

For those of you short on containers I saw these chicken wire baskets. So, look around... maybe you don't have chicken wire... maybe you have some scrap boards. Use what you have and think outside the box. http://www.thediyadventures.com/2013/03/12/chicken-wire-herb-basket/

Planter idea: Wood scrap planters.... so pretty! 
http://www.precioussister.com/blog/wood-flower-pot

 

Planter ideas: pretty boxes
http://www.precioussister.com/blog/balcony-vegetable-garden-progress

  

I am not sure I could plant in the boxes above because they are too pretty!  Wouldn't they be gorgeous on a shelf in the house, too?!! 

Wild Turkey Feathers... Oooops!

Wild Turkey feathers from our turkeys.

Again, this is not my picture and I borrowed this because it looks just like our feathers.

I am really missing having a working camera.

And really thankful that the internet has a picture of everything on the planet.

Pictures do make things more interesting!

We have a Tom and two hen Wild Turkeys.  And no, they are not "wild"... well, they are not tame either ;)  ... but rather that is the variety.  They are the same that you find in the wild.  They are quite beautiful birds..... which is why I feel so bad about removing the beautiful feathers....

Note to self:  Don't grab a turkey by the tail feathers even if you have a large handful.

So here's the story:  I was going to let the chickens and ducks free range, but we are told that if the turkeys get out we will never see them again.  We have been told they will fly away and never come back.  I am not sure I believe this.  I tend to think that just like the hens, roosters, and ducks they would come back to their home.  I could be wrong.  Either way, we were trying to prevent losing them, so for their SAFETY I was trying to catch them to put them in our smaller inner pen that is in the chicken yard.  This area has a separate door that can be closed to keep them locked away while allowing us to leave the chicken yard open so the hens can come in and out and lay their eggs.  Let me just say that the turkey hens are HARD.TO.CATCH.  As in... we have never touched them other than the day we brought them home over three weeks ago.  I did catch them, but now they are missing a lot of feathers.  As I reached out and grabbed the first hen I grabbed all of her tail feathers and she tried to run.  As she jerked away I felt all her feathers gently release into my hands.  Ugghhh!  That was not supposed to happen.  Now we have a bird with a naked rear end.  Poor girl.  And now, she thinks I was trying to torture her.  I was merely trying to keep her safe.  After capturing her and releasing her into the inner pen we went after the second turkey hen.  Sadly, we jerked out some of her feathers, also.  The next day we free ranged the hens, rooster, and ducks, but we did NOT torture the turkey hens again.  We just left the chicken yard door open less than a foot wide, so the hens could get in and out, but the turkeys could not. 

Another adventure to learn from.  I find there is always much to learn from all these creatures.  This day it was:  Do not grab a turkey by it's tail feathers! 

Hopefully, they will grow back fairly quickly. 

Preparing for the Unexpected

I feel like I should post here about something that has been on my mind.  And I mean like on my mind NOW..... in an urgent way.  I have some concerns that I will not go into.  What I want to say is this... prepare.  Prepare to be able to provide the basic needs of your family for, at the very least, a week.  If you can, prepare for a month or longer... really I think you would be wise to prepare for a year or longer.  Basic needs... food, water, items that are needs to you... prepare to have a heat source for cold days.  Prepare to be able to grow food or find food... have a source for food production like hens for their eggs or goats/cow for milk or rabbits for meat.  We have rabbits for pets, but I am thinking that if I was starving they would be dinner.... not to sound creepy, but most people are not going to come take your rabbits in the first phase of desperation.  I think they would go after your chickens first because they are "normal" food.  Stock up on some seeds... even if you don't normally garden.  

I feel like something big is coming... maybe as early as a week from now.  Sounds crazy?  Yes, it sure does.  I hope I am way off on this.  At any rate I don't want to look back and wish I had told a few people... or more.  

Mostly, make sure you have your Bible and several copies of it with you.  Read it!  Print out a chronological listing.  Gather up a Revelation study to have on hand to read.  Watch for the signs that are there.  Read the wisdom and teach it to your kids.

If you are prepared for the unexpected and it never happens the worst you have done is be prepared.  Don't let it make you crazy, but prepare.  You never know when you need it.  And it will never hurt to have the reassurance that you have done what you can.  And tell others to prepare.  Blessings to you all!

Roland the Rooster

Roland is our rooster.  He is a Buff Orpington.  And no, we do not usually name all our critters, but this fella came to use with a name already.  The kids name the rabbits and the critters that are special to their heart in some way.  We had a duck that was club footed named Flicka at one time.  He was our first duck hatchling.  They have named one of the ducks Zebra since she has some strange stripes on her chest, but mostly we do not name everything.  With so many I am certain we would never be able to remember.

Since we have never had a rooster this has been another interesting experience.  Roland crows two hours before the sun comes up.  I don't know what makes a rooster crow, but I always thought it was so those first tiny glimmers of dawn on the horizon.  Apparently, not.  It does not bother me since I am not used to getting full nights of sleep and really he does not awaken me.  I hear the crowing because I am already awake.

He is quite a bit larger than the Buff Orpington hens that we have.  I did not realize there was such a difference in the size of males and females.  He is wider, as well.

Spurring is not something I had ever seen.  Roland attacked Cody's boots one day and then, he chased after Caden another day,  It is quite interesting how the rooster jumped up and down and used his spur claws to do just what it is called... "spur".  He is quite the "ladies man"... every hen that passes by is at risk of being "spurred"... ahem... uh... mated.  We keep him confined with our two Buff Orpington hens, but one of the Aracaunas kept finding a way to get into that area  for the first few days we had him.  We are likely to have some mix breed chickens thanks to him.  The last couple of days I have let all the hens and Roland free range.  I am not sure that was the best of ideas.  He has been mating my whole flock it seems.  I think he will be missing out on future free ranging days.

 This is NOT Roland, but he looks identical to this.  

I am still without a camera so I borrowed this photo off the internet. 

 He is fast.  We are not able to catch him, but we are able to "herd" him where we want him to go.  He also comes back to roost if he is let out.  I don't think I will ever stop being amazed at home chickens come home to roost shortly before dusk and put themselves to bed.  Ohhhhh... if only children did that life would be simpler. 

Plans for Our Little Acre for Spring 2013

We are more of the hobby farmer/gardener/homesteader types.   I just want to be clear about that.  Sometimes what we are doing here might sound big, but really we are just beginners going through a lot of trial and error.  I would love to produce all our food right here on this little one acre in the middle of town and I know it can be done, but we are not doing that, yet.  In fact, I am pretty sure we would starve.  I grew up in the country.  All around me were corn fields and cattle grazing, but I did not grow up that way....  none of that sort of thing was going on at my home.  My daddy worked, my momma went the grocery store and bought what we needed.  End of story.  I can remember a small garden one time, but we were not really a part of it.  I don't remember that being a shared venture for the family.  My daddy bought three cows once to raise to eat.  He kept them a few months and sold them after deciding not to mess with that any longer.  I had a horse for a couple of years strictly for fun.  I lived on 11 acres.

Do you see the irony here?  Pretty funny because now I live on one acre in the middle of town and have limited space and now I want to do those things that I grew up with endless space for.  Ironic.  So, now without having any experience we are trying to figure it out.  Well, I have been.  Cody is just getting on board.  Last year he started taking part in more of it even though his interest is not really in it.  This year he seems to be interested.  I think it was good for him to realize how much we benefited from the harvest over the past several months.  I think he had to see some of the rewards to appreciate the journey.  So, this year we are plowing up more dirt and looking at it from a different perspective.  It is more about sustainability.  What would we need to be able to do if we ever had to provide for ourselves.  All the creatures we have now have to have more purpose than just ""science" for our kids and a bunch of eggs.  That's all fun, but I told my husband it is too much work and we are spending too much money on it.  This is the sort of discussion that led to the first culling of the duck flock.

All that being said, I will try to detail what we have going on:

I will start with the garden areas. 

• We are using what we learned last year about where the sun falls on our property and trying to plan with that in mind.  We have a small garden patch by our house that is currently planted with two types of potatoes, two types of onions, and a wheat patch.  The wheat is an experiment from some wheat that spilled and got dirty.  It is growing well and is already about 6 inches high after only two weeks.  
• We will be tilling up a bigger garden in our back quarter (that is the back of our lot that is a 1/4 acre that we purchased a few years back).  This will be a variety of vegetables.  
• I will be putting in a long narrow garden, as well.  
• I am considering doing a raised bed corn method that I saw at a local Expo.  
• For fun I am considering planting a long row of sunflowers that will also provide a natural boundary on one portion of our property.  We have some neighbors that are bothered by our chickens (and everything else we do), so we might add a simple fence. 
• I am trying to use all organic methods and heirloom varieties, as well.

 I will refer to this part as "Orchard Items".  That does not mean we are planting an actual orchard.  We just have one acre and it is heavily shaded and orchard items like sunshine. 

• Currently, we are working on adding various fruit trees.  I have seven blueberries (four different varieties), two apple trees (two varieties) , a plum tree, two pear trees (two varieties), three grape bushes (3 varieties), a peach trees, a nectarine tree, mayhaw, satsuma, and navel orange. Some of this should have some production the first year I am told, but much of it will require waiting for the second or third year.  

We are considering selling off all of our rabbits as our children seem to have lost interest in them and they were really just for pets for us.  We are not rabbit eaters. If we were hungry, yes... but we are not, so they are our pets.  We usually sell the baby rabbits, but this has never actually been a profitable thing considering all the feed that the rabbits use.


The "birds":

• We currently have nine ducks left in our flock.  They are messy and eat a lot of feed.  Overall, they are not the best choice for raising for meat.  We have enjoyed the experience, but we are going to cull the flock.  We might keep one or two, but likely they will all go, so we do not have to deal with their messes.  They house nicely with all the other birds, but they make messes by trying to swim in anything they can which keeps the chickens water nasty all the time.  
• We have nineteen chickens for the purpose of laying eggs.  Really, we were not ever supposed to have this many, but my husband was not ready to kill the chickens for meat.  Our hens are "our ladies" and we have grown quite fond of them around here.  I am considering isolating some of them for a few days and seeing which ones are laying and which are not to consider culling some of them because we really do not need this many.  The feed bill needs to be lowered and I am not really one for selling the eggs because I would rather bless others with them.  I am uncertain of our plan for "our ladies".  They are not a bother, so it is not urgent to decide either.
• We recently added turkeys to our flock.  We have a Tom and two gals.  They are all full grown and about three years old.  I thought we were getting them to butcher, but Cody is the one that got them.  He says we are raising turkeys now.... so we are raising turkeys now.  Once they start laying we will let them hatch out their eggs and raise the babies for the meat.  The Tom is beautiful I must say.  It is quite interesting to watch him protect and guard his ladies with his feathers all spread in the air.  
• I have been trying to convince Cody that we should be raising chickens for meat, but he has not been easy to convince.  Our most popular meat in our home is chicken.  It makes sense that we should raise our own for meat if we are raising chickens.  So, I was sitting here one night and just for kicks I was looking at Murray McMurray's website and IDEAL Chicken Hatchery's website and IDEAL had a sale on Straight Run Black Broiler chicks for 90 cents a chick.  I told Cody and he said to order them... REALLY?... really.... so I ordered 30 and shipped and everything was $34.  That was just too good of a price to pass on.  We received 31 chicks, but have lost four... still a bargain.  They are about two weeks old and are growing really fast.  We will plan to butcher them in May when they reach full size.  They are supposed to be ready within 7-8 weeks, but I have heard that they take a little longer and I am okay with it take a little longer.  I also am considering keeping one rooster and a couple of hens from this flock to use for raising our own broilers without having to order.  We will determine that after seeing how well these birds do for meat chickens in the end.
• Our most recent addition was quite accidental really.  A lady in my Sunday School class mentioned that she had three roosters to give away and I made a mental note of it, but told her that since we live in town we were not going to have a rooster that would make noise and bother our neighbors.  One of my neighbors sent me a message wanting to know if I knew someone that had a rooster and I told her I would check for her.  I contacted the lady with the roosters and she said she had one and he was a friendly Buff Orpington.  Hmmmm... I have two female Buff Orpingtons and so now we have a rooster.  I have separate area in our chicken coop and so I have put the three Buff Orpingtons in there to mate and hopefully hatch out their own eggs.  I must admit I am considering pulling the eggs and putting them in the incubator because the hens have over a dozen eggs in there and they are not sitting.  These chicks will be raised for meat or sold as hatchlings.  

I think that sums up our Spring 2013 plans.