Yeah, I know.... no updates for a month. Two reasons. The first... I really messed up something during the move and have not been able to type. Its just now beginning to get better. Second... I almost gave up on the whole chicken/micro farming thing when hash was killed a month ago. That broke my heart. Seriously .... how do you get so attached to one tiny creature? It didn't help that it was a brutal death. I completely penned the chickens in, top and bottom, so nothing could get in or out. what I didn't know was that death lived in the tree inside the pen. So, I essentially locked them in with a monster. It was my fault. But the monster is dead by my own hand.
Jimmy had to keep talking to get me to the point where I would consider getting the new birds we had already planned on. I'm glad he did. Last Friday I picked up 7 pullets: 5 rhode island reds and two barred rocks. They should all start laying in late July. They are cute..... but I'm NOT getting attached. Food ...NOT pets. The murder did bring home the fact that we need a dog...... A classic farm dog. A working animal.
On the gardening end. We have one bed in and planted. Jimmy is still terracing the future kitchen garden. Its been long slow work. First we had to clear an area the size of most peoples back yards from 10 years of blackberry overgrowth. Because its on a hill with a live waterway running under some of it, we have to do some erosion mitigation. I wanted to just throw down some boxes , put some dirt in them in get going with the planting but, Jimmy decided we need the Versailles gardens. So, after much discussion, which contained a great deal of "you don't get it" snorting on both sides, I decided to take myself out of the equation. The last time he said :what do you think?" I said "It will look very nice when you are done. Call me when it is ready for planting. Oh ... and don't forget to put in an extra large box for potatoes.". I get it. This is his investment in the lifestyle. But I am always amazed at his ability to take something simple and turn it into an engineering feat. Don't believe me? When I told him I was going to go to ross and pick up all cotton tea towels for a grand total of $6.99.... an hour later, I still didn't have tea towels but he had a $10,000 kitchen remodel all planned out on paper. How did he get there? There's no convenient place in the kitchen for a towel rack. To put in a towel rack he has to tear out a wall... and then he has to ........... I waited 2 days for him to forget about the exorbitant cost of tea towels, bought them without telling him, used them, washed and put them in the cabinet space designated for kitchen towels and waited for it...... two weeks later it came. A little spill on the floor: He opens the towel cabinet, pulls out one of the towels from the pile and says ..." See... we have plenty of towels, there is no reason to buy new ones." . I'm not gonna tell him and neither are you!
Jimmy had to keep talking to get me to the point where I would consider getting the new birds we had already planned on. I'm glad he did. Last Friday I picked up 7 pullets: 5 rhode island reds and two barred rocks. They should all start laying in late July. They are cute..... but I'm NOT getting attached. Food ...NOT pets. The murder did bring home the fact that we need a dog...... A classic farm dog. A working animal.
On the gardening end. We have one bed in and planted. Jimmy is still terracing the future kitchen garden. Its been long slow work. First we had to clear an area the size of most peoples back yards from 10 years of blackberry overgrowth. Because its on a hill with a live waterway running under some of it, we have to do some erosion mitigation. I wanted to just throw down some boxes , put some dirt in them in get going with the planting but, Jimmy decided we need the Versailles gardens. So, after much discussion, which contained a great deal of "you don't get it" snorting on both sides, I decided to take myself out of the equation. The last time he said :what do you think?" I said "It will look very nice when you are done. Call me when it is ready for planting. Oh ... and don't forget to put in an extra large box for potatoes.". I get it. This is his investment in the lifestyle. But I am always amazed at his ability to take something simple and turn it into an engineering feat. Don't believe me? When I told him I was going to go to ross and pick up all cotton tea towels for a grand total of $6.99.... an hour later, I still didn't have tea towels but he had a $10,000 kitchen remodel all planned out on paper. How did he get there? There's no convenient place in the kitchen for a towel rack. To put in a towel rack he has to tear out a wall... and then he has to ........... I waited 2 days for him to forget about the exorbitant cost of tea towels, bought them without telling him, used them, washed and put them in the cabinet space designated for kitchen towels and waited for it...... two weeks later it came. A little spill on the floor: He opens the towel cabinet, pulls out one of the towels from the pile and says ..." See... we have plenty of towels, there is no reason to buy new ones." . I'm not gonna tell him and neither are you!
