surprises in the garden

Sunny skies, cloudy skies, wind, rain, sunny skies….sometimes the weather just needs to make up its mind!  In spite of the indecision on the part of the weather, my father-in-law, Tom, and I persevered in the veggie patch this morning.  We weeded, mulched, admired, planted a little, harvested lettuce and admired some more! 

Tom is particularly proud of the asparagus…it is really thriving! I’ve decided it is doing so well it likes all the attention Tom lavishes on it each time he is in the veggie patch!  And our newly acquired “Papa’s Rhubarb” plants, hand carried from Lancaster, Pennsylvania by Aunt BJ and Uncle Tom are sprouting new leaves and seem to be liking life in Atlanta!

For my part, I was particularly thrilled to find bluebirds sitting on a nest in the new bluebird box, a chickadee nest with eggs in the wren box and either a bluebird or robin nest in the artsy metal bird house my son, Jeff, got me for Christmas!

Perhaps the most unexpected discovery was a baby snake in the wheat mulch I was distributing (without gloves on!) around the strawberries and pepper plants.  After some discussion, we decided the baby snake was not poisonous…and relocated him to the garlic bed.  Hopefully, he won’t grow up to be a copperhead!

But, what really thrilled me today…what MADE my day…were the seven, yes, I counted them…SEVEN white tail deer in my forest…including a beautiful big buck, as surprised to see me, as I was to see them!

A Heathlhy Addiction

I’m really addicted to the high I get from my garden! 

This time of year finds me implementing the new strategies I agonized over this long, cold winter.  And, I’m pretty pleased with some of the changes I’ve made.

First of all, I’m using wheat straw as mulch instead of shredded hardwood mulch.  And, I’ve tried something new with some of my raised beds.  A thin layer of straw went down on the over-turned soil from last season to which I added 2 bags of organic planting soil.  Bush watermelons, poblano peppers and red bell peppers are being grown this way. I also am trying fabric “bags” that are planted like pots.  They are porous bags that allow drainage and better air circulation around the roots.  In these pots are planted two types of winter squash, cantaloupe and 3 bags of fingerling potatoes!  I did not put these “bags” inside the confines of my fenced veggie patch, however, but outside in the lower fenced pasture.  The vining plants are positioned near the fence in hopes that I may be able to tie them to the fencing and train the vines off the ground.   

The asparagus is growing….and growing!  I can’t believe how well the bed is looking already and both Tom, my father-in-law, and I are confident that the site we chose was perfect.

Our method of “casting” seed has been a brilliant experiment with the radishes, lettuces, and spinach.  And our rows of beets and carrots are doing well, too, although with the next crop we may try casting these seeds, as well.  Why not?

 And, the tomatoes are planted…on time!  One whole bed of three varieties including a tiny cutie named ‘red currant tomato’ with tomatoes the size of your pinky fingernail….sweet and delicious.  I can’t wait!

I try not to answer my phone or respond to text messages when I’m in my garden.  It’s my sanctuary, my gym, and, as I’ve said before, my therapist’s sofa.  Life couldn’t be better on the days I spent any amount of time amidst the plants, birds, butterflies and bugs…

Something tells me this addiction is a pretty healthy one! 

One of these eggs is not like the other...

One of these eggs is not like the other is an understatement.  One of them is HUGE!  I would have been shocked this afternoon when I collected the eggs from the hen house had this not happened previously.  Yep!  That biggun is a double-yolker!  There are actually two yolks in a single egg.  And, interestingly, the size of the eggs compensates for the two yolks!

From the information I have been able to garner, this rarity occurs one time in every thousand eggs laid.  And even though my hens are 8 plus months old, it usually happens in older laying hens or brand new layers whose mechanisms are still working out the egg producing process.

Laying double yolk eggs is not normal for chickens.  It is a miscommunication in their reproductive tract…probably, in my case, for the chicken laying infrequently whose system is “still figuring it all out”.

So now I’m really interested in buying one of those outdoor cameras that takes a photo, like, every 15 seconds.  I’d like to try to catch one of the hens laying that double yolker!

Now the thing I can’t stop laughing about is what they call a no yoke egg…

It is sometimes referred to as a “wind” egg, but more commonly, as a “fart” egg.   

And I guess I’ll just leave it at that!