My kids on Daily Kos

How unlikely is that??

Ah, but what a hoot!

And now they're 16 and 14.

Happy Birthday, Lynae!!

Temporary Mohawks

Michael and Jon like it when Lynae cuts their hair!

Broiler Update

Remember these little cuties?

Most of them are grown up now.

They're all meaty and tasty-looking, aren't they? I see Stir Fry... Barbecue... Cacciatore... Dumpling... Soup...

Here are our young layers. This is their Amish pose. One of them is clearly not cooperating. Happy free rangers, they are... and that's ok, since they haven't yet discovered the gardens.

All right, you are sentenced to time in the chicken tractor! Just kidding. We put it in for a size comparison. And as you can see, after 7 weeks there's quite a difference.

So if you plan to call or stop by next weekend, we'll be butchering.

The Garden is In

After a few false starts, we got the garden in last week. This picture shows most of it. If what we've experienced so far is any indication, I LOVE these raised beds! I'm doing square foot gardening without the permanent grid. Mel would not approve, but it's working for us so far. I do see the benefit of the grid, and may install it later on. I have my squares mapped out using Plangarden so I can keep track of what's where.

I did not plan to use perlite in my raised beds. I started with vermiculite. When we were ready to fill the majority of our beds, we couldn't find vermiculite in the amount we needed. After calling around in the Duluth area, we found one nursery that supposedly had vermiculite in big bags. When we got there, we found it was perlite in bags that said "Vermiculite Perlite". I was so tired of looking at that point, I just bought it. I'm not thrilled with it, but the plants don't seem to mind much.

The potatoes and onions are already as big as they were by harvest time last year. That's a very good sign. I'm hoping that the horseradish we transplanted into pots to hang out with the potatoes will deter any potato-loving pests.

If the zucchini plant in the front corner produces, it will be a first for me. I just thought of something. Do these plants grow both male and female flowers, or do I need to plant more to get fruit?

I have planted enough beans to feed a small army. In the past, I've gotten a pitiful yield from the beans I've planted. (Really, I've gotten a pitiful yield from everything but my grape tomatoes.) I wouldn't really mind having "too many" this year.

Grace has her own garden again, too. She's growing various flowers, chives, basil, cilantro, oregano, and a tomato... not yet sure which kind. Her garden is right outside the back door, which makes it the perfect location for the herbs we'll use most.

This week we have lots of warm weather and a bit of rain in the forecast, so I'm hoping our plants will grow and be happy!