Christmas is Comin'

Thanksgiving is over, the semester is almost over and Christmas is almost here!!!

Enjoy the Christmas holiday, everyone!

Eye of the Tater (and Other Scenes from the Farm)

Just pulled my seed potatoes out of the cellar. Some I had bought earlier this spring, others I had saved from last year. They all had shoots on them (some 2-3 feet long) and were growing through all the boxes, but since the shoots were white (due to lack of light), I had to pull them off and let them regrow. In a couple of days when the green "eyes" show, I will be planting them. All in all there were around 150-200 potatoes. I'm seeing mashed taters this Christmas!

Since spraying our property, we haven't been free-ranging out chickens for obvious reasons. We have been wanting, though, to build a portable run for them so that they could get out of their coop, but be kept from eating the areas of the yard that they shouldn't eat (including my pathetic garden). While my cousin Chris was here, he bought materials and helped me assemble a portable run. It is made from half-inch PVC, a handful of couplings, a bird net and a couple dozen tie-wraps to hold the net in place. Here are the chickens enjoying there new playground. (Thanks Chris!)

Speaking of chickens (no, not Chris), here is a picture of one of the little fluff-balls that I posted a picture of back in May... they do grow fast!

Yeah, we even have a rooster; he can't crow yet and is rather wimpy. While I was chasing him down to take his picture, he tries to hide... under the legs of another chicken! But I got a couple pictures of him anyway.

Next up, my pathetic garden. Had more problems with germination this year. The seeds that came up are doing beautifully. Problem is... most of the seeds didn't come up.
Here is a picture of some of the few survors:

Beets

Kohlrabi

and Rutabaga

We had some pathetic cilantro, basil and lettuce come up... don't think I could show it to you without tearing up. The kale and spinach didn't even show! Ah, the life of the student gardener; but then again, a good GPA does look better on an engineers resume than a green thumb.

Strawberries came and went. They did pretty well. Here are our late growing raspberries and a picture of the only bowl of cherries we got off the tree.


Better luck next year, I guess...

How could you resist a face like that?

Friday we picked up some more chicks at the feed store to replace the dearly departed nine that disappeared over spring break... I hope the coyotes choked on the bones! We were originally going to get buffs like we originally had, but these austrolorpes are supposedly really good layers, are very similar in personality to buffs and, besides, how can you resist a face like this!
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After some messing around we finally got one of our brooding buffs to accept the little chicks as her own. She makes a cute mommy and seems to take good care of them. Right now she is occupying the large coop. The other eight chickens are occupying the original (small) coop; they are drenched in the rain and haven't laid today... hopefully they recover from the cruel and unusual shock!

Anyway, here are some pictures of some of the seventeen cutest fluff-balls you've seen...
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...and a picture of some very upset buffs.

Reflections on why I wasn't at school yesterday...

The pictures say it all... enjoy!
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Loudly whistling
through dark snowy woods
December winds
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