Taking on a life of its own

Shortly after the last post, 2 more chickens were killed. We are now left with 1.

I am so excited to see my garden start to take shape. I've begun planting a few rows at a time.

Planted above is a few kinds of lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, onions and chives.

There is also some new flowers coming up in the container.

That is about all I have for this posting! See ya next time.

Growth all around!

Everywhere I look, things are getting bigger and stronger. The chicks are doing well in their coop. They are about 10 weeks old now. Here are some pictures of them doing some chicken things.















Chickens aren't the only things growing around here, my seedlings are becoming big plants.

Many different types of tomatoes

Eggplants

This tray only has a few cauliflower, eggplant, chives, and thyme in it.

My garden has officially begun. We planted some strawberries and flowers in a few containers. Really basic but it is the beginning of something great!

I'm gonna be up to my EYEBALLS in strawberries, and tomatoes. Maybe I'll have a front yard fresh veg stand and sell some stuff :)

Sad day, we now have one less chicken. My littlest dog killed the Road Island Red.

Men+tools+wood=Chicken Coop

Here comes my most favorite favorite part, BUILDING THE COOP. Up till now the little chickies have been living in a large tupperware type container in my daughters room. It is there time to have their own home! Plus, theyve gotten so big so fast, how could I possibly keep them inside much longer? Look how much they have grown in just a few days.

Basically this post speaks for itself, the men putting together a coop:

Josh and James putting together the frame and starting to do walls and the floor.

All sides are done, now to add the front.

Here is the final box that will become the coop:

Next up; windows, roof, and a chickie sized door.

My daughter checking out the inside of the coop.

Oh joy here comes the painting 3 layers of paint. It actually was not too bad, did it rather quickly.

Throw in some straw and it is officially time to introduce the chicks to their new digs.

So far they seem to really be enjoying it. As for their nest boxes, that is something we are still brainstorming on. When changes happen I will be sure to update this posting.

A seedling adventure

I've decided it will be more cost efficient if I grow from seeds myself. This posting will be updated during the growing process.
My first action was to retrieve some seeds I had from years past, get some new ones and some flats of peat moss (the greenhouse kind from WalMart).

Here is a picture of the little greenhouses all full of seeds and resting in the sun!

How very exciting, my lil sprouts are coming out.

Shortly after they started sprouting I noticed some mold growing on the tops of some of the peat moss'. The way I fixed this way to simply remove the plastic cover from the peat moss. Viola, fixed. This is a picture of some of the mold (maybe a little hard to see, kinda just looks like white fur).

Look how big they've gotten after just 5 days:

So far the seeds that are growing are broccoli, cauliflower, onions, 3 varities of tomatoes, lettuce and a lettuce blend, a few types of herbs and some scallions. There is also eggplant in there, it just has not sprouted yet. I am so excited for this to work out and produce our veggies!!

More updates coming soon...

On to the garden area

Once the main yard was clear it was time to fix up inside the garden area. There was a pretty large pile of debris in the center so I had to take all that out. Here is a before:

And an after:
This is also when I introduce the chickies! I do not remember what breeds they are, if you can tell let me know.

Some days while working in the garden I will set the chickies up and let them play in the dirt for awhile, they LOVE it.

The next move and possibly the smelliest was to clear out the area where the coop will be built. Doing this didnt take long but it sure was gross. This is how it started:
Now I am proud to say it's clean and smell free:
The red X is where the coop will be built. Plenty of space for the chicks to run around.
For cost purposes, I've decided to start all my plants from seeds. That will be next time!

Clearing out all the old dead mess

December 2010

My very first job was the yard itself. It had been basically neglected for the past 3 years. It was in major need of some TLC. The area of the yard that needed cleaning is probably about 1/16th of an acre. Till now only dogs (Itchy, Oso, Odin, and Iris) have been back there. Here are some pictures of what I had to begin with:

That is Oso, my mini doxie laying in the sun!

My first task was to pull and pile as much as possible. This was all done over a few days. Some of the weeds back there were 8' or higher! Quite a tough job, but fun and rewarding as well, not to mention all the calories I got to work off!! The next step was to burn all those horrible tumbleweeds.

Next was putting up the fencing around what will become the garden area.

This all pretty much sums up the first round of chores that needed to be done! Here are a few pictures of all our hardwork:

Itchy, Iris, and Odin playing in the freshly cleared yard.

Doing this so far has been really simple and not as much work as I originally thought. Next step is to prepare the garden area.