Sage's First Egg

I had some nice break from the watering duty in the past several days as the monsoonal moisture paid the desert a visit with a generous amount of precipitation. :D  It's not fun for the kitties and chickens to be cooped up all day, and the amount of mud that gets tracked into the house is no joke.  Still, rain in the desert is much more than just the much-needed water.  It gives us relief at a much deeper, psychological ... probably spiritual level.

After an overnight rain and cloudy morning, I went to open the chicken coop doors for the girls a little later than usual after the rain had stopped yesterday.  Much to my surprise, there was a speckled brown egg inside the younger girls' coop!  I knew it was Sage's first egg since she's the only brown egg layer of the three (Vanilla and Mocha are Easter Eggers, and their eggs will be green to blue.).  For a first egg, it was not weird like "membrane without hard shell", "malformed", or "puny".  Sage's first egg was maybe a little on the 'slim' egg shape, but evenly shaped with a nice hard shell!  The pullets are roughly 14 & 1/2 weeks old right now, so it's rather early, but they get to free range all day, eating lots of greens and whatever bugs they catch.  They seem happy and definitely healthy, so it's not surprising that they would start laying early.

Pullets outside of their run, but staying close to their coop.

We started letting the girls free range with supervision at first.  Dorito was a little aggressive at first, followed by some challenges made by Fiona to Mocha (because Mocha is physically largest of the younguns).  The establishing of the pecking order is natural and nothing was excessive.  No aggressive pecking to cause any kind of injury.  So we kept lengthening the amount of time the pullets stayed outside.  In about 5 days, we were letting them out during daylight hours.  Aggressive behavior by  the two grownups have subsided.  Now, on a good day, we see all five of them foraging in the same area of the yard.  But for the most part, they are in two groups of two and three in different parts of the yard doing their own thing.

Pullets venturing out in the grassy area of the backyard.  Now they move around all over the backyard.

The other day, I saw Sage catch a grasshopper.  She immediately started running away from Vanilla and Mocha.  Before Sage could make a getaway, the others started off running after her.  There it was!  The chicken football.  LOL  So much excitement and commotion.  It's a delightful sight to watch these girls run as fast as they can.  In the end, Sage successfully outran the other two (She has always been the most athletic, most curious, and most brave of the three.), and munched on the grasshopper happily.

Now the pics from the garden. :D

The fruits of the Goliath tomato plant have started maturing nicely.  My first crop was used to make one of my favorite summer dishes of all time - tabbouleh.  The tomato from the garden adds so much flavor to this all fresh, simple dish, I always feel it's the best thing ever. ^^;

Ichiban is my favorite eggplant.  It's the skinny Japanese variety.  I think the flavor is sweeter and smoother than the big fat Italian types that are prone to grow lots of seeds inside.  This is one vegetable I grow year after year and never get tired of.

I've spotted dozen ore more LARGE fruits ripening on my German Queen tomato out back.  The plant is over 4 feet tall now. ^_^

The sunflower fence is producing lots of blooms now.  The tallest plants are probably somewhere between 9 1/2 to 10 feet tall now.  It is at least as tall as the garage's eaves.  The Mammoth Russian sunflowers are still growing and I finally see them forming buds, but no flowers yet.  They're still growing. :D

Took this close-up of one of the blooms.  Isn't it mesmerizing?  It's almost like staring into a mandala...

August's Super Moon.  I love full moon in the morning.  I love the crisp cool air, the gently hazy sky with pastel tones... just so peaceful.   ^_^

Late Update

I take pics and then intend to sit and write up a post so many times before it actually happens. T_T  Something, usually an e-mail from someone or a call, distracts me, and before I know it, days go by.  I have to get better at keeping my garden and chicken journal up to date.

We're now seeing triple digit daily highs.  Now, this is just plain uncomfortable at this point.  I can only stand to work outside early in the morning (or if I feel so inclined, after sunset).  Morning hours between 6 and 8 are very nice, especially before 7 when the temperature is still in the mid 60s.  Once the sun comes up though, the dry air of the desert west heats up fast and sun is scorching hot.  My skin hurts when I don't get myself into shade.  No fun, and I've got plenty of pigments in my skin and don't usually burn, but tan really easily...

I actually managed to get some nice pics of the 4th of July fireworks for the first time. :D  (I did get a lot of duds, too... ^^;  )

Pretty much all the spring veggies in the one SFG has gone to bolt.  Onion flowers are cool to look at... but they reek.  The pretty blue daisy flowers belong to some of the greens that were in the salad mix. :D  These plants are taller than I am now.  Ridiculous. LOL

Still getting visits from many different kinds of bees.  We see huge bumblebees out in the old part of the backyard where these wild larkspur plants are growing.  They love the purple flowers.

English lavender in the Bees and Butterflies box is doing well.  In fact, pretty much everything in that box is doing wonderfully. ^_^

Still demure in stature, the Indigo Rose tomato has a lot of fruits on the vine.  A few of the ones that set early in the season have started changing the bottom color from green to red.

This Fever few clump was transplanted from north of the house to a summer veggies/herbs box last year.  It was tiny and had a hard time getting going after transplant, but it's doing a lot better this year.  I love the scent of this plant.  This year, we have a much larger clump of it come back in the northern shaded area of the house where the soil is dry and poor.

Getting there slowly... :D

Chickens at 7 weeks.  Mostly feathered in and looking very much like pullets now.  Still chirps like chicks, but every now and then, they make 'chicken' sounds.  The sound vocabulary is expanding.  Still haven't learned to stay out of the water bowl, though. XD

"German Queen" heirloom tomato on June 24th.

Same plant on July 1st.  This tomato is growing fast and doing well in the barren lot that has not been used for many seasons.  The soil was amended with some organic garden soil and compost, with handful of bone meal and blood meal, and a doze of Sea Magic.  I don't use chemical fertilizer on our food stuff.

Forgot to insert this when I was talking about the Bees and Butterfly Garden Box!  This bee balm clump is in there.  Somehow got so tall this year ... like 4.5 feet.  Looking a little out of control, but I love the scent of the leaves.

Chickens at 8 weeks (Pic taken on July 1st).  Clockwise from top left: Vanilla, Mocha, and Sage.  Sage is still the smallest, but she's the head bird of these three.  The two older chickens come by often and take sand bath right next to their run.  I think they've gotten used to the idea of 'more chickens'... finally.  I'm still not taking chances and won't be releasing them out until they're fully 16 weeks old.  We're more than halfway there since they just turned 9 weeks old on the 6th of July.  Vanilla is a wheaton Easter Egger.  I don't know what Mocha's feathers are called, but she's black, gold, and brown.  Very pretty.  And Sage is a classic Barred Plymouth Rock with black & white wavy stripes appearance.  She is till the most curious and the sweetest!  These are special birds.

The sunflower fence on the south end of the backyard.  These guys got such a late start in the season, but they seem to be doing OK.  I'm using some tumble weeds for mulch.  This area has tumble weed infestation of gigantic magnitude on some properties - you'll see Christmas tree size tumble weeds on a regular basis.  :(
I'm actually allergic to the pollen of tumble weed flowers, so I pluck or cut them down whenever I see them.

Not a good comparison shot at all! LOL  *mega fail*  This was taken on July 1st.  The tallest sunflower measured 37 inches.  This is a mixed planting of at least 5 different varieties of sunflowers.  Some were Russian Mammoth seeds, so I'm hoping to see some giants... eventually.   ^_^

Backyard Update

Chicks have turned 6 weeks old on Father's Day (June 15, 2014).  Time flies.  I have not been able to keep up with the blog.  It's been almost 3 weeks since my last entry. ^^;  Chicks are not the only thing that have grown in that time...

Here's a pic of Sage at 5+ weeks.  They have outgrown the old watering bowl.  I have bought the larger waterer.  It is placed slightly raised above ground level, but it still gets dirty from the chicks bathing in the dirt, kicking it everywhere.

Mocha and Vanilla at 5+ weeks, with Chaba the cat photo bombing.  LOL  She and a couple of cats just can't get enough of the chicks.  ^^;

Swiss Chard in the Spring Veggies Box looking beautiful.  My salad greens have started bolting in the heat.  Various flowers are about to bloom.  I kind of have fun watching them grow flowers.  Adds to the color.

Because it has gotten so hot, the broccolis have no time but form a rather small head before buds start to open.  This is what you have to deal with when you have a rather short spring (and late start in the garden).  ^^;

Because it is consistently in the 90s for mid-day high these days, I have a record short pea plants.  At least they're producing.  ^^;

I have some chrysanthemums interplanted in the Summer Veggies Box and found these baby ladybugs.  They're good for eating aphids that are bothering the broccoli plants.

The "Indigo Rose" tomato plants have fruits forming. :D  Purple on top and green at the bottom.  More fruits are forming.  The plant is still rather small...

The "German Queen" heirloom tomato that was planted way back in the old garden plot with plenty of room.  We have the tomato support, and on the outside of it, chicken wire fencing to protect from our free-ranging chickens.    Last year, we had a tomato plant grow wide in the SFG box and it was touching the fence.  Chickens were pecking on the tomato fruits through the fence material.  They do like tomatoes.  At any rate, this tomato plant is doing well.  Currently about 18 inches tall.

The sunflowers along the back fence line are doing well.  Most are about 10 inches tall and have been thinned once.  When they reach a foot tall, I will thin them again for 1 per spot.  They are still so short, compared to the volunteer sunflowers that grew from last year's seeds.  I have neighbors with sunflowers that are already blooming, too.  ^^;

Hubby and I made an exciting addition to our baby coop - a chicken run! :D  It's 8 feet long and 2 feet wide.  Connects to the end access door of the coop we purchased.  This is painted to match the coop.  It's been a big hit with the babies.  Sage was the first to come out past the threshold and venture out into the new run.  I see the girls running back and forth.  They do some funny hop-step-jump kind of stunts, and do a lot of chest bump with running starts. XD   It seems Sage has established herself as the boss bird of the three.  Brave and inquisitive, despite her small size.   These last two photos were taken today.

Mocha is starting to develop a rather cool pattern.  She also seems to be growing crest-like feathers on the sides of her head.  After the run was set up and the babies were venturing out, Dorito, once again, acted all annoyed and upset, squawking like a rooster, trying to peck at the little ones through the wirecloth...  The babies were just so curious about the big ladies that roam freely around them.

At the end of June, they will be 8 weeks old and we will be switching their food from 'chick starter' to the 'grower' type.  Although they seem to have grown so much since they first arrived, they're still a fraction of the fully-mature chickens in size.  But these babies will most likely start laying eggs at about 5 months, which will be end of September. :D

Trial and Error

   As I've mentioned before, this is the first year we are trying the SFG method of gardening, and I am encountering new situations that got me puzzled.  Of the three tomato plants, the Black Krim was lagging behind, and yet, lately, it is the only one that is growing normally.  The other two tomato plants (Yellow Pear and Brandywine) have slowed down growing (I might even say stunted.), and looking somewhat paler than the Black Krim, and the lower leaves are beginning to yellow a little bit.  In my past experience, these symptoms indicate one of the two things: overwatering and subsequent root rot or nitrogen deficiency.  The two tomato plants that have slowed down the growth pace are the ones that were going crazy and really vigorous before the really hot weather (daily high consistently being in the 100s).

  Since some of the other plants showed signs of dryness (broccoli and bell pepper plants wilting), I was guessing they needed more water, but when I stick my index finger down the soil near the tomato plants, the soil is moist and just fine.  And since they are in a raised bed, I doubt that over-watering can be an issue.  Which leads me to the next possibility on the list, nitrogen deficiency.  It has been really hot and the plants have been growing so fast, it's not entirely unlikely that the soil might be low in available nitrogen.  I don't really want to use Miracle-Gro, but the compost I have in the backyard is not quite ready.  I guess I have the fish tank water that I can water the tomatoes with and it should have a bit of nitrate, ready for the plants to use right away.  At any rate, I'm going to have to somehow find the remedy for the situation.

   Here's a picture of the "Ichiban" eggplant growing in the same SFG box as the tomatoes.  It's looking really vigorous and starting to produce a lot of blooms.  I have a small fruit growing close to the ground level (not visible in this picture) that's about 4 inches.  The very first fruit of the season was snapped in half by one of my cats the other day and I never got to eat it. T_T

   The marigolds that were direct seeded into the SFG spring veggies box are blooming nicely.  Most of the plants turned out to be the bi-color variety with red on the top side and orange on the under side.  The red gradually fades to orange as the flower matures.

   The sunflowers in the back yard (directly in the ground) were getting stunted until I started drip irrigation.  Now the tall ones are growing a few inches a day.  This large one in the picture is now measuring 38 inches tall.  Just last week, it was only about 18 inches.

The Heat Is On

   We are seeing unusually high temperatures for daily highs for the past straight week -- all triple digits!  Still,  we are not getting much relief in terms of precipitation.  Our total precipitation up to this point is less than 1/3 of average same time of the year according to the weatherman. So, it's been dry.  Luckily, around my house, it has been dry like this since late spring that not very many weed seeds managed to germinate and grow.  Weed abatement has been easier than previous few years.  

   We are, unfortunately, having multiple wildfires going at different areas of the state, with the biggest one still raging in Colorado Springs.  Looking at the weather forecast for the state, I don't see them getting much help from Mother Nature...

   Anyhow, my corn has started to bloom as you can see in the photo above.  This is the first crop of corn that is supposed to get ready in the early part of July, so I guess it's right on track.  The tallest plant measures about 4 1/2 feet now.  I was having a hard time keeping them watered for a while, but trickle watering works quite well even with just a single regular hose in a box.  So I've managed for the past several days without having them curl their leaves up.

   The marigold I planted into the spring veggies box on April 8th has finally bloomed. ^^  There were two pots on the front porch with marigold which was also started from seeds, but they seem to get a little more sun and been blooming for a week already.  The difference in the micro-climates around the house is surprising sometimes.

   The Yellow Pear heirloom tomato with the pear-shaped little babies.  This plant turned out to be the most vigorous of the three tomatoes in my SFG box.  It needs staking badly.  It's leaning onto the Brandywine for support at the moment.

   The Brandywine tomato twins. ^ ^  I've been keeping track of these guys for a while and they are growing nicely.  Still a long way before I can have a tomato sandwich (This is the only time I crave white bread ... to make tomato sandwich with just white bread, tomato slices, and mayo. LOL ).

Baby Tomatoes

   These Brandywine tomato babies are making a good progress.  Flowers are continuing to bloom and new babies are coming. :D  It's so exciting!!

   And here's a look at the Black Krim tomato babies.  Growing steadily.

   Also in the same Summer Veggies SFG Box is a Japanese eggplant "Ichiban".  The plant has a lot of purple in the stem and veins, and the star-shaped flower is lavender.  I've always thought eggplant to be a rather pretty plant.

   "Red Beauty" bell pepper plant is now starting to have white blossoms.  The plant is getting really dense with leaves.  The Summer Veggies Box is starting to look really filled out.

   And here's a look at the Spring Veggies SFG Box on Day 72.  The soy beans are starting to really take off.  Mesclun lettuce squares are still producing well -- enough for me to have one or two salads every day.  The Sweet Williams are really doing well and blooming profusely.  The marigolds are finally starting to show buds.   They were started right in the box from seeds so it makes me extra happy to see them getting ready to bloom. :D  The peas, despite the yellowing in the hot weather, are still producing.  The tallest pea plant is at 37 inches. You can see the corn box right behind them, and the tomato plants to the left.  I have two of my many cats strolling the garden in this shot.

   The Corn Box on Day 56.  I measured them this morning and it's about 38 to 39 inches at the tallest point. I'm having to step back farther and angle my camera more toward the fence in order to capture the corn plants.  You can see the compost pile (the mound of debris) close to the fence in the upper left.  The corn box may have to be drip irrigated during the middle of the day.  We are now seeing daily high temperatures in the mid to high 90s every day.  I'm starting to see the leaves curl in the heat of the day.  Not to mention, the 6 inches of soil looks 'not enough' for these giant plants. ^^;

Corn Box Day 49

   Corn Box on Day 49.  The front half of the box was planted April 25th.  Germination occurred about 7 or so days later.  I'm looking at the seed packets information about 'days to maturity', and according to that, it's 66 days.  So the projected date of maturity is around July 6th.

   Right now, the tallest part of this group of corn plants measures about 30 inches from the top of the soil.  They are practically bursting out of the box. ^^

   Strawberries are coming!  The plants have been producing a lot of flowers in the past few weeks and now we are starting to see the fruits on the vine. :D  Exciting!

   The beginning of a tomato fruit!  This is my Brandywine tomato plant.  I found the baby tomato today. :D

   The closeup view.  You can see the dried-up flower still attached to this baby green tomato.  The plant is about 16 inches tall.  The leaves are huge and the plant is about twice wide as it is tall.