Atlanta Farm Girl

Chicken Karma

2011-01-25T15:31:00.000-05:00

Ah…the trials and tribulations of chicken ownership!

The story of Anna continues…

Every day when I enter the chicken run Anna attacks me. By attacked, I mean that she puffs herself up, flings back her head and wings and charges me….then bites whatever she can get her beak around. Now this probably doesn’t seem like a big deal…I’m a lot bigger than a measly 4-½ pound chicken. But, she actually draws blood. It has gotten so bad that I now wear knee high (not thigh high…you perverts) rubber rain boots to protect myself. I made the mistake of wearing my barn shoes the other day and she pecked through my jeans leaving a bloody nip and nasty bruise. The attacks have intensified...

I just can’t figure out why she does this to me every single day…I feed her, give her water, mealworms and fresh greens. If I’m going to be out of town, I have a chicken sitter come over to feed them and make sure all is harmonious. Anna and her girls have a heater and clean shavings in which to lay eggs. As chicken lives go, they lead pretty good ones!

To try to solve this issue, I’ve been researching and reading…and I think I’ve got it figured out. I think Anna is trying to be the dominant chicken! And she is trying to dominate ME! One book suggested I pick her up and hold her upside down until she submits. I tried this the other day and as I was putting her back down, right side up, she nailed the side of my head with a vicious peck! Another source suggested I charge her. Well, I tried that too. She definitely backed away, but then when I had my back turned, she surprise attacked me. I’m at a loss.

I have considered the possibility that Anna is demented. I mean she does have the brain of a chicken! One indication that this might be the culprit is that she has rubbed her head on something so that her beautiful topknot of feathers looks like it has been shorn into a Mohawk. That can’t be normal chicken behavior…

Anna also tries to follow me into the “big girl’s pen” containing the Silver Wyandottes who like to “kick chicken butt” whenever they come into contact with the Polish girls. It’s like she is tempting them to “Bring it”. She should recall that the last time she had a run in with the “big girls” she didn’t fare too well.

Alas, I believe I will have to live with this behavior awhile…at least until the chicken psychologists come up with more strategies for me to try.

So for now…every time I head out to the pen to check on the girls, I don my knee-high rubber rain boots for protection!

Something Happened on the Way to the Chicken Coop

2010-11-05T11:01:00.000-04:00

A funny thing happened on the way to the chicken coop…I lost my voice. Not physically…I just didn’t have any thing to say for a few weeks, well okay, months. Or, I just didn’t think I had anything to say that any one would want to read. But, then, friends and family asked me where I went. They enjoyed reading my blogs…little vignettes of my life and my crazy menagerie of critters. So I started thinking and realized that "I" enjoy reading my little stories and reflecting on the moments of my day. If others enjoy reading about it too, that makes me happy.

So, welcome back to life in my ever-changing city garden.

My chickens are in a slump these days…you’d think they’d be thriving and that egg production would be incredible, but not so. As soon as I integrated Anna with her Supremes (Sydney, Melinda and Jenny), she laid an egg and then promptly molted. Not an easy-going, a few feathers here, a few feather there…but full-on dropped most of them so she looks like she’s going through chemo. Not a good look for a chicken let a lone a glorious Polish chicken! And if that wasn’t bad enough, she hasn’t laid one egg in two weeks. Recently, she has taken to attacking me whenever I enter the coop. She literally flies feet first at my legs and then pecks me. The first time she did this, I wasn’t expecting it and was wearing shorts and flip-flops. Since then, I’m wearing jeans and my barn shoes for protection. The little bitch!

The Supremes are now 5 months old….so any day they should start laying. I put the “fake” eggs in the nest boxes in the hope that they would “get” what they are for. But, so far, I don’t think any of them have ventured into the nest boxes even for a look-see. Meanwhile, the Silver Wyandotte girls are happily enjoying stalking the smaller Anna and the Supremes through the wire fencing that separates them. They are still laying…a little less predictably now that the daylight is waning. But, I’m hoping the 40-watt bulb installed in their coop set to go on at 6:30 a.m. and off at 9:30 p.m. will help to pick up production.

I recently finished reading a wonderful book, City Farm, by Novella Carpenter. Novella is a true urban farmer living in Oakland, California. She describes in detail, not only how to raise and care for chickens (ducks, turkeys, pigs, bees and goats), but also how to humanely kill and process one. Anna better watch her back…

New Chapters

2010-08-04T18:08:00.002-04:00

I’ve been MIA in my garden for several weeks now and I’m anxious to get back to my daily routines. I’ve loved being with my daughter at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (Junior Equine Olympics), but after 7 days, I’m ready to be home. Jessie has been to the NAJYRC three times, earning a Silver Team Junior medal, but, alas, no medals this year for the Region 3 Young Riders. She had good, solid rides and she is proud of herself and her dad and I am so incredibly proud of her. Now it is time to shift the focus to college…which is just around the corner.

And once I take her to Sewanee: The University of the South, I close a chapter in my life that I’ve loved sharing with her. We’ve trailered to more horse shows than I can remember, some close to home and others 16 hours away. We’ve been a good team. I focus on the horse and let Jessie do her thing. …ride. I love the rhythm of grooming, mucking out stalls, cleaning and filling water buckets, throwing grain or hay…I’m glad I was able to be a good partner to her and her horses.

So, now I’ll have lots of time to tend my gardens, the chickens and the pups. I’ll start this week with seeing what has survived neglect and harvest! I’m hopeful the garden has not become too overgrown with weeds…my least favorite task.

My to-do list is long…and I know it is going to take me some time to “catch up”, but I wouldn’t have traded this summer with Jessie at horse shows for anything.

I know, as I close this chapter and begin the next, that Jessie and my relationship will change. But, I’m pretty sure it will be more towards that of becoming my friend.

Dian's Garden Fresh Pesto

2010-07-20T21:14:00.000-04:00

Dian’s Garden Fresh Pesto

2-3 cups fresh basil leaves (rinsed)

½ cup marcona almonds

¼-1/2 cup olive oil

¼ grated Parmesan

2 cloves garlic

Process in food processor or grinder:

Basil, almonds, ¼ cup olive oil, whole garlic cloves

Add Parmesan cheese and additional olive oil to desired consistency.

Toss with hot pasta or use as a spread on hot bread or as a complement to cheese.

Back to the Books!

2010-07-02T13:31:00.000-04:00

What I like about gardening is that I never accomplish what I set out to achieve. What I don’t like about gardening is that I never accomplish what I set out to achieve.

Weeds are the bane of all gardeners. As soon as you finish hours of pulling them they seem to sprout before your eyes. And no amount of mulch or landscape fabric seems to keep them from appearing. Even through the cracks and crevices, they find a way to take hold and grow. This year my garden seems to be particularly bountiful in the weed department. And while I ponder a better way to keep them from taking root, I’m scratching my head at the lack of tomatoes growing on the vines. What am I doing wrong?

I know that the basis of a good garden is soil. My father-in-law, Tom, and I have amended the soil annually and some areas of the garden look to be healthy while other areas are still dense with red Georgia Clay. Where is the compost, coir, Nature’s Helper, and mulch going? Where are the earthworms?

Now don’t get me wrong…we’re harvesting patty pan squash, Fortex pole beans, blackberries, beets, potatoes, and peppers. All is not lost. It is just that I can’t figure out why all of my crops aren’t producing, indeed in abundance, the way some are.

I’m stuck in the house today and decided to take the time to peruse gardening books and magazines looking for wisdom on growing the perfect tomato, the components of healthy soil, beneficial insects and organic pest management. I’m hopeful that something will “click” and I’ll solve the mysteries. But in the meantime, I’ll pull the weeds, water and fertilize, mulch and harvest and hope for the best.

Try, try again...

2010-06-14T20:11:00.002-04:00

Gardening can be a maddening venture. I can’t figure out why some crops thrive and produce in abundance when others whither and die. I feel like I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing!

This past week, after 2 weeks of not gardening, my father in law, Tom and I met up to weed, feed, water and, hopefully, harvest. We got lucky and harvested a hefty bag of green beans; lettuce and I pulled a few beets to take to my son in Baltimore, whom I visited over the weekend. There are lots of little baby carrots and little baby peppers growing. And the blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are heavy with fruit.

Unfortunately, we had to relocate the Sugar Bush Watermelon plants, as they seem to be stunted in their growth, we pulled 5 dead or dying tomato plants, and all the withered cress, too. I bought new heirloom tomato plants at Pike’s and will plant them in a new space in the garden. The pole beans are growing…no blooms yet. The Okra looks miserable, so we planted a new crop and we’ll see what happens with the first crop. And, once again, I’m fighting the Mexican bean beetle on the eggplant. I will spray them down with insecticidal soap and hopefully avert a take over!

The dogs were full of energy! They ran. They chased. They dug…yes…dug.! Oscar, the mini wirehair dachshund was a mess. His face was literally caked with earth. I had to hose him off. Lulu has suddenly decided my lemongrass is delicious and chewed on it off and on for an hour. Felix spent the better part of the morning chasing rodents…real or imaginary. And Hazel just hung out. The rest of the afternoon the pups were passed out on the bench seat in my kitchen!

There are new bluebird eggs in both birdhouses! We couldn’t believe that they reused the nests. Usually, we have to clean the boxes out so they will build new nests and have a second family. We did clean out the chickadee nest in the wren box, though. So, in a few weeks we’ll be on the lookout for another crop of bluebird babies.

Gardening is a labor of love and an exercise in patience. If at first you don’t succeed…Try, try, again.

Unexpected Chickens

2010-06-13T19:37:00.000-04:00

Today, a biathalon took place, partly, on the street we live on. I had the chickens out front in their “tractor” grazing, like I do every day. But today was different…Jeff, my son, was on the front porch, reading, while the race portion of the event took place. I was out back cleaning the chicken coop. He texted me that the chickens were a big hit with the runners. I had to laugh, because they do draw a lot of attention. As the runners ran by our yard, they would yell out “Chickens!”. One group of girls actually stopped and watched them for a few minutes before resuming their run.

My husband ran into a former neighbor with his kids the other day and they asked about the chickens. Michael ended up inviting them back to the house and the kids had a blast and even climbed into the tractor with the chickens. Luckily, there were eggs in the coop so they had a “take home” from the visit.

I think the draw of chickens is that they bring us closer to our food sources. I’m not a loyal locavore, but I appreciate the fact that I know what my chickens eat and that they are well cared for. (My husband would tell you they live at the Ritz-Carlton…) I know that the eggs they provide are the best quality and they are good for my family!

I suspect the draw also has something to do with the element of the unexpected…

Surrounded by highways and skyscrapers, in my little patch of country in the city, folks run by my house and see chickens in the yard. “Chickens!”

Polish Babies

2010-06-10T18:30:00.000-04:00

One week old and the new baby Polish chickens have grown…and they are flourishing! We go check on them, my daughter and I, about 5 times a day to make sure the temperature is right (95 degrees the first week, 90 degrees the second week, and so on), that they have fresh water and food and that everyone is healthy. Unfortunately, the fight or flight reflex, flight reflex, actually, is very much a part of their core existence. It doesn’t matter that it has been the same faces peering at them repeatedly, or that we hold them often, they still leap to their little feet, peeping madly and scurry all over their little pen to get away from us.

And, Boy, are they adorable… with little yellow “fros” on their heads…a clear indication that they are indeed Polish babies!

I decided pretty quickly after the chick’s arrival that I would not attempt to introduce them to “Anna”. She wasn’t broody…meaning she wasn’t sitting on the ceramic eggs I put in her nest box. In fact, she tried to roll them out on several occasions. And at night, we found her roosting instead of keeping her “eggs” warm. So, I thought it better to raise the babies in the shed under a heat lamp.

I think it was a good decision. I will introduce the new “girls” to “Anna”, their new mother hen, when they are older and she is less likely to peck them to death.

Good Neighbors

2010-06-01T13:10:00.001-04:00

May was a whirlwind month for me…two horse shows, tons of family and friends in town to help us celebrate my daughter’s graduation from high school, dinner parties and arriving this week, new little chicks for “Anna”.

I decided that Anna needed babies. “Marge”, “Puck”, and “Pot Pie”, the Silver Wyandotte hens have been picking Anna’s head feathers off and leaving her a bloody mess. I isolated her in an adjacent area of the pen so she could still see the other hens, but I feel bad for her. Even though she looks tremendously better and her head feathers are growing back, she is all alone. So I ordered her three white crested “blue” Polish chicks that are due to arrive one day this week. I’ve got a new separate coop and run all set up for them.

According to folks who know, it is best to put the chicks in an isolation container with a heat lamp for a day or so next to Anna so she can hear them peeping. Then, in the dark of night, slip them under her so when she wakes up in the morning she thinks she hatched her eggs! I’m thinking Anna probably can’t count, but just to make sure there is no opportunity for argument, I’ve put three “fake” eggs into her nest box that will remain there until the chicks take their place.

My letter carrier has been alerted and is on the look out! I think he’s as excited as I am for their arrival!

And a funny thing happened over the weekend. While I was in Kentucky with my daughter and our horses, my neighbor drilled a hole in my wooden fence about 4 or 5 inches in diameter, about 4 feet off the ground, so that he (and his grandkids) could spy on the chickens! I wish he had asked first, but I’m not one to get myself too worked up about my neighbor enjoying my chickens! I ran into him in the grocery this morning and he fessed up…to “borrowing” three eggs, too! I’m thrilled!

I’m thinking about having a little reception for the new baby girls next week. Maybe the rest of the neighbors would enjoy a peek at the little peeps!

surprises in the garden

2010-04-27T14:48:00.000-04:00

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

2010-04-17T09:47:00.000-04:00

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...

2010-04-15T20:17:00.002-04:00

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!

In the Scheme of Things

2010-03-14T11:30:00.002-04:00

For the past week, my husband and I have been on our last Spring Break trip with our Senior in high school daughter and her three friends…heading back to reality now, I’m thinking about home.

It is good, once in a while, to get away from the day-to-day routine of life. And I certainly had a wonderful trip with lots of rest and sunshine. Being away reminds me of those things I value most in my life.

Sitting on the airplane, I now peruse the More magazine I purchased to read before I was allowed to use my computer or Kindle. In the magazine is a collection of essays of different women’s definitions or perspectives of “Home”. It was a thought-provoking read. My husband and I are currently in the process of selling the home our children were raised in and building a new home we have designed for our little “farmette”.

The home our children were raised in was perfect for our family. A funky city house, it has a “kids wing” complete with three bedrooms and two baths where our growing children could escape the adults. The “family room” space had many lives, including being an art room complete with a multitude of art supplies, canvasses, and an art table, a sleep-over room with a fold down full size futon (which the dogs mostly slept on), party central for birthdays and Play Station (now Wii) tournaments, and its current role as a TV room with a big screen, surround sound, and cushy sectional.

When our daughter graduates, if we haven’t already sold the house, this part of the house will go unused. My kids, mostly, and my husband, a little, are struggling with selling the house, I think because of all the memories of being raised, and raising our children there.

But, for me, those memories are a part of my being. I don’t need a house to remind me of the tiled stairs where my barely four year old daughter fell and ended up with four stitches on her forehead 2 weeks after moving into the house. Of frantically driving, barefoot, through the neighborhood trying to find the local hospital with my 6 year old waiving down a homeless man for directions. Or the cozy bedroom off the kid’s family room my son chose because it was his “cave”. The weekend my brother and I spent together re-tiling the living room fireplace with broken black marble tiles (long gone since the renovation). The beloved guinea pigs, rats and hamsters buried in my garden. The civil war “ghost” at the top of the bedroom stairs my nephew used to “talk “ to and I attempted to exorcise with chants and a sage stick …Why not? The wonderful parties, meals, holidays, birthdays and anniversaries celebrated with friends and family…most still a part of our lives, some moved on to new places and new friends. These things are all a part of my collective…who I am, who I have become…me…they won’t disappear because I live in a different house.

I like to say that if the house was burning down the only things I’d save are my family and my pets…and if I had time, the photos. Nothing else is all that important in the scheme of things.

First Loves

2010-03-07T09:49:00.001-05:00

My daughter’s first horse, Sion’s Shadow, is living a life of retirement at a beautiful property north of Atlanta. He is young…only 13 years old. But, he has been unable to “do his job” for 2 years. Early onset arthritis has disabled him and only recently his discomfort has been alleviated thanks to the natural fusing of his hind coffin and pastern joints.

Sion is a beautiful Dutch Warmblood, 16.2 hands, black bay with a kind and generous personality. He took Jessie to both the Festival of Champions (Top 12 Championships) and the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (The Junior Olympics for Equine sports.) the first year she embarked on qualifying.

Recently, in part because Sion’s comfort level has so drastically improved, Jessie decided to ride him and see what he was capable of doing. My husband and I didn’t go to watch…not sure what to expect. According to both Jessie and Sion’s caretaker, it was magical!

Sion “perked up” when he saw Jessie with the saddle pad….and when she placed it on his back he turned to look at her with tremendous excitement. Jessie tacked him up…saddle, girth and finally, the bridle. She led Sion to the sand arena and mounted him. He was a different horse…no longer the head of the herd in the pasture…suddenly he was transported to glory as the wonderful dressage horse he remembered being not that long ago.

Jessie was able to walk and trot Sion, but not canter. He limped a little...and the next day was very stiff and sore. We upped his “bute” to help with the discomfort…I guess, a little like a weekend warrior.

Sion was Jessie’s “first boyfriend” and it was wonderful for them both to have that time together again reliving their commitment to each other. I hope Jessie will ride Sion again soon…

Dreaming of Spring

2010-02-24T16:43:00.002-05:00

This time last year I had seedlings an inch or two tall, hundreds of them dispersed over three folding tables under grow lights in my family room. My family was none too thrilled with me. The house smelled of damp earth…heavenly to me, like to dirt to everyone else.

Maybe because the weather has been so uninspiring or perhaps much of my enthusiasm has been dolled out to the chickens, regardless, I’m just now starting my vegetable seeds indoors for spring planting. I’ve promised my family I won’t over take the family room this year, so I’m being prudent about which seeds to start. Initially I was a little worried that getting such a late start would be a bad thing, but I’ve decided that last year’s plants were kinda big for transplant…many root bound and the tomatoes definitely outgrew their pots. I had a poor tomato crop, so maybe this is a good thing that I’m getting a later start than I planned.

This morning, I sterilized the plastic starter pots, am soaking the organic seed starter soil mix and have the seed packets spread out on the kitchen table attempting to prioritize those who need to be planted now under the waiting grow lights. It is a daunting decision…really!

With tempting names like Red Currant, Polish Linguista, and Red Zebra…I started all the tomatoes! And I couldn’t resist the Lemondrop Basil. Of course, ignoring the peppers was impossible, so Giant Marconi, Early Crisp and Ancho are safely nestled in their dirt beds ready to germinate! Black Beauty and Fairy Tale eggplant as well as the Tomatillo Gigante are also currently enjoying a solar bed experience! In the next few weeks tiny seedlings should start to poke their heads through the soil and then I’ll know Spring is truly just around the corner.

Great Eggs-pectations!

2010-02-22T15:19:00.002-05:00

Maybe because my baby girl, Jessie, is graduating from High school in a few short weeks and I’m looking for something to fill the void of her leaving for college, or maybe I’m looking for something needing a little nurturing…Either way, I don’t think my daughter would be too thrilled to know that my chickens are her replacement! I am finding keeping chickens incredibly rewarding. I had no idea how much fun they could be and no idea how satisfying it is to find eggs in the nest boxes. I love my dogs, too, but the “gifts” I get from them aren’t as tangible. The dogs love and worship me, protect me, keep me company and from becoming a slug by getting me outside, and cost me lots of money in vet and food bills and I can’t imagine my life without them. The chickens, however, don’t love me unconditionally (I don’t think they do, anyway.), don’t protect me, don’t keep me company and cost me a lot less money than my dogs, so far. The “gifts” they give me, however, are organic, rich, nutritious, healthy eggs. I’m just thrilled!

Three of the girls are laying almost daily, and Anna, the Polish chicken has yet to begin laying. I know this not because I am keeping watch, although I am a little, but because Anna’s eggs will be white when she does begin laying and the Silver Wyandotte’s are brown. I’m only collecting brown eggs right now. I am sure Anna isn’t yet laying because my husband is putting pressure on her by telling her she needs to start “earning her keep”. Two of the girls are laying in the nest boxes but one doesn’t seem to realize she is laying eggs, yet, and just randomly drops them wherever she happens to be standing. I’m hoping it won’t be too long before she does what the others are doing…actually going into the coop, into the nice and clean nest box and leaving little gems for me there.

Yesterday, as I was showing off the girls to my son’s friend, Amanda, one of the girls marched into the coop, took up residence in a nest box and laid one right there before our eyes. I couldn’t believe it! I scooped it up and handed it to Amanda, still very warm from the hen’s body. We were both in awe!

My daily ritual of feeding the hens greens and mealworms, changing their water and filling their feeder has also become a time of anticipation and excitement at how many eggs I will be blessed with for the day. Who knew a few hens could provide such enjoyment?

The Perfect Egg

2010-02-04T18:27:00.000-05:00

Recently, I’ve been thinking (and blogging) about the fact that “The Girls” have yet to lay a single egg. I’ve researched the hows and whys of egg production and have taken many suggestions to heart to encourage them to lay.

Today my routine was different. Between the rain and the multitude of service folks in the house (locksmith fixing a broken lock, handyman painting a ceiling and the house cleaner) I didn’t get out to visit the chickens mid-morning like I usually do. Then I ran out for an appointment and an errand so it was 5 p.m. before I went out to check on their food and water and give them their daily treat of mealworms. I opened the door to the coop and realized the ceramic eggs I had put in their nesting boxes had all been pushed out. But wait a minute…there’s still an egg in a nesting box…but it isn’t white like the ceramic ones…it’s brown…that’s because it’s a REAL egg!

Someone Laid An Egg!

After months of anticipation and patience (ha!), the Perfect Egg has finally arrived!

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

2010-02-04T10:13:00.002-05:00

I’ll admit it…I’m not a patient person! I want it and I want it now…always! The “Girls”, aka The Chickens, are now about 6 months old and they still haven’t begun to lay eggs. It could be the lack of daylight (I put a bulb in the coop that turns on at 7 a.m. and off at 8 p.m.), the cold, or they just aren’t there yet. I even have ceramic eggs in the nest boxes to give them an idea of what I’m waiting for! Sometimes it can take up to 8 months for them to begin laying so all hope is not lost…yet. My husband has begun to tell them they need to start earning their keep, however. Organic chicken feed and gourmet seeds aren’t cheap!

Chickens are characters, I’ve discovered, and they are trainable! Once a day I take mealworms to them as a protein treat. The girls have begun to associate my voice with these yummy treats. As I approach the coop they start clucking up a storm and pace back and forth waiting for me to enter the coop. Once I’m in there they dance all around my feet waiting for me to scatter the little worms for them to gobble up. I’ve begun mixing the mealworms in with fresh greens and shaved carrots so they have to work a little harder to find them.

It has become a daily ritual that my pit bull, Hazel, accompanies me to the coop. She finds the girls fascinating…and she loves to eat their poop! The Polish Chicken, Anna/Nana, storms up to Hazel (with the fencing between them) every day and fiercely pecks her on the nose when she is trying to sneak spilled scratch or other delicacies. Hazel seems stunned by this assault, but takes it in stride. . I’m not sure what she would do if she actually got into the pen with the girls. She may be so focused on gobbling up the droppings that she would completely ignore the hens. I’m not planning to test that theory, however.

So for now, I’m still waiting for my first egg. And, although it won’t actually be worth its weight in gold, it will be a prize, nonetheless!

Resolutions

2010-01-21T17:53:00.000-05:00

Thinking about and working in my garden is my therapy. It makes me a happier person. I feel productive, useful, focused, and that I contribute something to making the world a better, prettier place. The winter season is usually no exception…In Atlanta we can still garden. But this winter has been different. The frigid temperatures and seemingly non-stop rains have made it impossible to have a continuously functioning and producing garden. This has affected me. A lot! In the past few weeks I’ve found myself…down. Without my stand-by outlet to get outside and work in the soil I’m a little lost.

And, in spite of my resolution (again) to work out every day…Let’s face it, working out on a treadmill or an elliptical machine just isn’t the same as marching along with the bird chatter, sweating to the beat of yanking out heavy weeds laden with earth or digging a new bed to “heave ho”. When I’m working out I watch the clock. When I’m in my garden hours pass before I notice.

What I do enjoy about this time of year is spending any spare moment paging through the accumulating seed catalogs finding yummy, unique, interesting and promising vegetables and fruits to attempt to coax into thriving in my garden. The glossy photographs of beautiful plants with perfect fruit make me desperate to get dirty again! Having just placed my order for a large variety of seeds, I’m anxious to set up my grow lights and await the first emerging seedlings.

I know the days are getting longer again and before I know it I’ll be putting those seedlings into the soil and tending to their every need…Happily.

Trying New Things

2009-12-28T13:52:00.000-05:00

Sadly, I have to admit I’ve barely been to my vegetable garden in a month! With all the Holiday “stuff” I’ve shifted it off my “to do” list almost daily. Well, no more. Recently, I made it a priority!

I planted lots of fall and winter vegetables, so I was excited to see what, if anything, might be available for harvesting. Boy was I thrilled! I pulled amazing radishes for our Christmas Eve dinner. I’ve never had radishes any way but raw, so this year I decided to try something new…roasting them. After washing the radishes and cutting off the green tops, I cut them into chunks. The chunks got tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and then were put in a baking dish and cooked in a 350-degree oven for about 40 minutes. Thinking I might need to disguise the morsels for my family to try them, I mixed them in with roasted zucchini chunks. My kids were not excited to try this new dish…but after one bite they asked when they could have roasted radishes again and could I please not bother with the zucchini! Success!

Currently out of the country enjoying a much-anticipated family vacation, I know when we return to Atlanta I will have lots of greens to harvest including arugula and other types of lettuces, collards, kale and Swiss chard. I even have snow peas and beets coming in!

Soon it will be time to start dreaming of planting the spring garden…I’ll start my seeds indoors under grow lights in late January or early February, so next week I’ll start ordering from the seed catalogs. I’m thinking of trying some melons and unique beans in 2010. I’m feeling the need to be a little bold with my recent radish success.

chicken envy

2009-12-23T13:18:00.000-05:00

When I got my dad his (Polish) chicken recently (when he helped me build my chicken pen), he named her “Anna” after his Polish grandmother who emigrated to the Chicago area around 1900. Little did I know that we were setting ourselves up for “Chicken Envy”…You see, my mom, Barbara, aka Nana, looks a lot like “Anna”. Seriously. My mom has silver and black “spikey” hair. Since recently “meeting” Anna, my mom has decided that (a.) Daddy should rename “his” chicken after her, or (b.) I need to get mom her own Polish chicken that she can name “Nana”. Hmmmm…..Quite a dilemma, huh?

The four chickens remaining, after the return of the three roosters, are getting along great. And they have become quite “social” with me! When I come out to check their water and feed in the evening I’ve taken to “rewarding” them for their attention with a fresh worm from my worm bin. I wonder if Pavlov knew chickens could be conditioned like dogs…

Each evening, even if it is dark and the girls are in their coop, when they hear me or see me coming (I carry a flashlight if it is dusk or dark), they exit the coop one-by-one down the ramp and scurry over to me at the fence, anticipating their bedtime “treat”. It is quite comical! My vegetarian daughter even partakes in the ritual and finds it delightful to watch the girls all vie for a worm.

The girls have been enjoying their “treat” so much, that I ordered mealworms and am now doling them out liberally, much to their delight! I hope my daughter doesn't find the box of them I have hidden in the back of the refrigerator...

Melancholy Chickens

2009-12-09T11:55:00.000-05:00

It’s silly, I know, but I’m sad. Yesterday I returned three of my seven chickens to the person I bought them from because they are roosters. (I can’t have roosters in the city limits.) He promises me he found a good home for them where they won’t end up as dinner. I hope so.

I went out to the coop this morning to check on the remaining four…and they seemed kind of…lost. I guess we all (chickens and human) are feeling a little melancholy today missing our fellas. My successes, to date, on the chicken-keeping front, include the fact that I haven’t inadvertently killed any of the chickens! I consider this a big success! I also take credit for asking questions and listening to the answers I received. This is not something I do on a regular basis…I like to “forge ahead” and “figure it out”. Actually asking and listening helped me to figure out how to get the chickens to go into the coop on their own each night, helped me to get the grain ratio of organic, custom feed I am giving them right and determine which of the chickens were actually roosters. I also feel good about the rhythm I’ve gotten into with them as far as feeding/watering/cleaning the coop is concerned. Now, I am just awaiting the arrival of the “First Egg”. The chickens are about 16 weeks old, which means they will begin laying sometime in the next few weeks. The first egg usually is laid when the chickens are between 15 and 19 weeks. I can’t wait! Really…I CAN’T!

I’m thinking of putting a roof over part of my chicken yard as the rains we have had have turned most of the pen into nothing but mud. The chickens don't seem to care, but I do. I laid wheat straw down on the ground this morning to stabilize it, absorb some of the water, and add mental stimulation for the chickens. I would feel horrible if they were melancholy AND bored. Late last week I added two perches for them to use…and I was thrilled to see them all sitting on them this morning.

Now I have to think about getting a few more hens…

Someone Crowed!

2009-12-02T11:11:00.002-05:00

Despite a few bumps along my path, I think the chicken keeping has been going pretty well this past month. The chicks have been eating both the commercial feed and the seed/grain mixture I am providing, they are growing into very pretty young adult chickens and finally, last night, they figured out how to go into the coop all by themselves. (Thanks to someone telling me to put a light bulb on a timer in the coop…like clockwork, they marched themselves in there as the sun began to set.)

The bumps are turning out to be a bit significant…however.

Yesterday morning I discovered one of the chicks is being pecked and was bloodied. So, I had to remove that chick and put it in the brooder where it is warm and I can nurse it’s wound. The poor thing is beside itself being isolated from the others. But, at the feed store, where I went to purchase a topical treatment, they told me the other chickens will keep picking where there is blood until they literally pull it apart…Ew.

Also, yesterday, as I was dealing with the injured chicken, someone crowed! Yep…stretched out his neck and let a big old “Cockadoodle doo” out! I live in the city limits and by law cannot keep roosters. And, now that I’m looking at these chickens a little more closely, I’m thinking I may have 3 or 4 roosters out of the seven chickens. Now I have to make sure and then find them new homes outside the city limits.

And then there’s the issue of them standing out in this driving rain getting soaked. Why won’t they go into the coop where it is warm, dry and there is both food and water? I guess I’ll go help them out and remind them that warm and dry is better than cold and wet.

Things I Have Learned About Myself

2009-11-18T09:14:00.001-05:00

The week I spent building my chicken pen and brooder with my dad was amazing…lots of physically demanding work , problem solving and above all, conversations. Daddy talked to me about all kinds of things…

I am a Vermi-composter…I use worms to eat my kitchen scraps and turn them into great additives for my garden. Daddy saw my two multi-tiered bins back by my shed and asked about them. He looked at me kinda funny and told me that when he was a kid they used to take coffee grounds and other scraps from the kitchen and put them in this mound out back of their house…hmmmmmm….Vermi-composting is in my blood! Who knew?

He also shared with me for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, that his family had chickens when he was growing up for fresh eggs and meat. This is NOT something I expected…Daddy grew up “in town”, the son of a Psychiatrist! So, maybe I was meantf to have chickens?

Yesterday was my mom’s birthday and she was in town briefly, so I had lunch with she and my dad. Mom told me she thinks I am a lot like my Dad’s father…always eager to learn, always wanting to immerse myself in new things, and I definitely got the animal gene from his side of the family.

Isn’t it fascinating how the things we are passionate about sometimes are things we are destined to be passionate about?

The Chicken Pen is Finally Finished!

2009-11-05T22:01:00.000-05:00

I’m so tired. And my dad is worn out, too. We pushed ourselves hard today, and daddy definitely overdid it. We completed the last panel and installed it at nightfall. It was dark!

First thing this morning, I got up and checked on the chicks in my laundry room. My olfactory senses were offended….Wow, chicken poop stinks! (You were right, Lauren!) Daddy and I completed the brooder in my shed first thing, installing the radiant heater, insulating the windows, putting down newspaper and pine shavings, filling the waterer and the feeder. We transferred the girls to the brooder and waited for them to settle in. By nightfall they had ventured all over their new space and were eating, drinking, and pooping, happily! And, thankfully, my laundry room no longer smells of chicken excretions.

I have so treasured this week with my dad. Together, we have actually planned and built a pen for my chickens and it is really nice to look at. We problem solved, screwed up and figured it out, made adjustments, drilled, nailed and hammered every 2 x 2 together so that no predator can get to the girls. And, I know it was hard for him, physically demanding, at the least, but he persevered. He did it and he feels good about it, too. And, I’m just thrilled.

He’s had it though. He’s ready to go home and have a quiet weekend without physical labor and a sun up to sun down schedule. I get it….But, I will miss him. I’ve really had fun and I’ve loved doing something special with my dad, just the two of us. He’s a great guy….interesting, smart, goal oriented, and talented. How lucky am I? I said that Daddy can build anything…and he did.

The Chickens Have Arrived!

2009-11-04T22:48:00.000-05:00

Staple gun failure, a broken drill bit, three trips to Home Depot, chicken coop arrives and weighs 240 pounds, 1 hour plus drive to get “the ladies”…nothing went as planned today, but it all worked out in the end.

Where to begin…Daddy and I got started early this morning, in the 40 plus degree temperatures, building our panels and getting the brooder ready. Unfortunately, we realized early on that we were missing some very needed hardware, so off to Home Depot we went. Upon returning home and working to assemble the panels with wire, we realized the drill bits were broken, so off to Home Depot we went for a second time. Finally, getting started building the panels, we pulled up the wire and grabbed the staple gun only to come to the conclusion that it had died….off to Home Depot we ventured one more time!

Finally, we seemed to have everything we needed and everything was working! We completed the brooder and began work on the panels for the pen. It was lunchtime, so we finished the panel we were working on and took a break to have some lunch. Of course, as I’m putting the turkey and cheese sandwiches on the griddle the transport company arrives with the coop. Oh my goodness….what exactly is 3’x4’x5’???? I’ll tell you this….it is way bigger than I thought it would be. And, it weighed over 200 pounds! The delivery man (that’s right ONE delivery man), couldn’t get it where I needed and wanted it, so I called in my son’s friend, 6’5” Pelham, and asked him to bring an equally capable and large friend! And he came…because he knows I love him and he loves me, too!

So Pelham, his friend, Michael, and Pelham’s girlfriend, Simone, helped us hoist this massive chicken coop up and over a 5 foot granite wall and 4 steps , then haul it (and I mean these guys were struggling with the weight of this massive coop) all the way to the back of the property where my pen is set up. They carefully dropped it onto the ground and panted, paced, and tried to catch their breaths! What fabulous guys! I am in awe that they are doing this for me! My daughter, Jessica, had made cookies and brownies the night before, so I encouraged the three of them to go get a Vitamin Water from the fridge and grab some cookies and brownies while my dad and I attached the legs to the coop, which was not as easy as I told him it would be. Finally, the coop was assembled and we all took a corner and moved it, basically, where it will be when we complete the panels for the pen.

Then we jumped in the car and made the hour long drive to Jackson, GA to get the ladies. Zachary, the ladies first “Daddy”, was adorable and led me on a much anticipated tour of his operation. Zachary is 12 and got hooked on chickens from a 5^th grade science project. He has been hatching and raising them ever since. We loaded the 6 Wyandottes and 1 Polish (which I purchased in honor on my dad and gave to him as a gift, which I will keep for him) into my dog crate and then into my car.

When we arrived home, my daughter put the dogs into the back garden so that we could take the chicks straight up to the laundry room for the night. It didn’t seem fair to arrive in the dark and put them in a cold, unfamiliar shed. Tomorrow we will introduce them to their brooder.

My dad was awesome today and I don’t think I pushed him as much as I did yesterday. It was too crazy and disjointed a day to do that. So although we were both tired at the end of the day, he was excited about the girl’s arrival, too. And the girls are resting quietly in my laundry room.

Building the Chicken Pen with my Dad

2009-11-03T22:10:00.002-05:00

The Chickens are Coming...Tomorrow!

2009-11-03T21:59:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the day…the chickens will arrive one day early. I can’t stand it any more…I’m too excited, so I arranged to go get them a day earlier. Daddy and I are half way completed with the chicken pen. Earlier today we scrapped the chicken tractor when I realized I couldn’t lift it, let alone move it, by myself. I’ll wait to make this part of my plan a reality. For now, I just want the chickens to be here at my house, in my chicken pen, in my coop.

I wore him out today…seriously, I did. Daddy asked to stop working. How horrible a daughter am I? I didn’t see that I was pushing him…I was too focused on the goal. Later in the evening, he asked me if I ever sit down. Ugh! So for tomorrow, although there is a lot to do, my mantra will be to “slow down” and enjoy the experience.

Although the chickens arrive tomorrow, we have a brooder set up in my shed…they are still babies, after all. The chicks will not be living in the coop any time soon. I want to be able to put them in the pen so they can get used to scratching and eating bugs and grasses, but mostly they will be in the shed, protected from the elements and predators, until they are fully feathered.

The coop arrives in the early afternoon, which will enable us to complete the pen. We have all but 3 sections of the pen completed, so we will have to make those as well as attach the wire. The wire is the most difficult part of the process…both Daddy and I have bruises and calluses on the palms of our hands from the wire cutter!

Building this pen together is what is important to me. I feel vibrant from the process…being outside, building something useful from scratch and doing this with my dad, the conversations, the problem solving….I can’t imagine the experience being any better than it has been. So, tomorrow, I think we will accomplish a lot, but I am also going to work hard not to push my dad so hard and to enjoy this process. And tomorrow night, I think I will have a hard time sleeping knowing my new babies are all alone out in the shed. It will be a struggle not to bring them into the house….

Countdown to Chickens

2009-11-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

Daddy arrived around lunchtime, so we made grilled turkey sandwiches and talked strategy. Then we walked the space and made a plan for the chicken pen, making a list of all our building needs. Having someone to talk with about the enclosure made it so real...it isn’t just an idea in my head anymore! We then went to Home Depot and got all the supplies we needed to build both the chicken tractor and the chicken pen: 2” x 2” x 6’ wood, L brackets for stability, screws, hinges, locks…and when we returned home, immediately got started cutting the wood and putting the pieces together.

We decided it made sense to build the “chicken tractor” first. The tractor is a 6-foot-long by 3-foot-wide by 2-feet-high enclosure on wheels. It is completely “caged” so the chickens will be safe from predators. The idea is that the chickens can be in the tractor and moved around the yard eating bugs and weeds but not decimate any particular area. We also decided to put a “roof” over part of the tractor to give the chickens shade if they need or want it. Quitting time was about 5:20, since Daylight Savings Time means earlier darkness. We were tired anyway, so it was good that darkness was descending upon us. We weren’t “quitters”. Daddy had driven 3 hours to get to me, so I know he was stiff from the drive and ready to have a nice, quiet evening and a good meal.

The best part of the day was having the opportunity to partner with my dad on this project. I felt like a little girl again when I believed he could and did do anything! Today I was in awe as my dad made the ideas in my head come to life. He really can build anything….and we did! The chicken tractor is taking shape and tomorrow morning we’ll finish it and get started on the pen. I’m counting the days until the girls finally arrive.

No pumpkins in my garden...

2009-10-30T09:51:00.000-04:00

I didn’t grow pumpkins in my garden this year. Butternut and acorn squash were in abundance, however, and delicious. At this time of year I always wish I had grown pumpkins just because they are such a sign of the season…and maybe next year I will. I have enough land to plant them in a mound and just let them grow. Maybe I’ll grow sugar pumpkins, the variety for pie. Pumpkin seeds are delicious and I use them in several recipes. One of my favorite recipes with pumpkin and the seeds is with Halibut. I get rave reviews when I serve it at dinner parties!

Pumpkin Halibut

Halibut filets (4-6) ( or substitute Sea Bass or a similar fish)

Pumpkin butter (your own or store bought-Whole Foods carry it)

Pepitas (pumpkin seeds), raw, 1-2 T per filet

Bread crumbs or Panko, 1 cup

Old Bay Seasoning, 2 T

Fresh ground pepper, to taste

1 stick butter

Wash and pat dry the Halibut filets and place in a glass 9 x 12 baking dish prepped with non-stick spray.

In a bowl, microwave the butter until melted then add the breadcrumbs or Panko, Old Bay, and pepper. Mix well.

Generously spread the pumpkin butter over the top of each filet. Sprinkle the top of the filet with the breadcrumb mix and then about 1 T of the pepitas.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-45 min depending on thickness of filets. Check after 20 minutes for doneness.

Serve immediately.

Infrastructure

2009-10-29T07:47:00.002-04:00

Hours go by and the only thing that makes me realize that so much time has passed is that my stomach is growling. Weeding, planting fall seedlings, pulling out the last of the pepper plants and (finally) planting my Celeste fig tree and new blueberry bushes filled one glorious day last week. It was a chilly, overcast day…but no matter, my father-in-law, Tom, and I hadn’t been in the garden much this month thanks to all the rain we have had. The pups were with us and they were crazy! Too many days cooped up in the house for them, too. They kept us busy discovering new found “holes” in the brand new fencing…gaps where hills kept the wiring from meeting the ground and they were able to scoot underneath. We filled the gaps with large rocks we’ve been using to make stone walls and pathways. Foiled again!

The new water pipe is being laid with spigots in the pasture and inside the veggie patch, any day now. I can’t wait to not have to haul water from the rented water tank, bucket by bucket! And, the fencing is being stained black this week…it will look “finished”, at last. Next week, more “infrastructure”, with my dad arriving to help build my chicken fencing and install the new coop! I am anticipating the arrival of Le Regazze (The Girls, in Italian, as I have affectionately named my “flock”) with both excitement and anxiety. 7 days and counting…

Beasties in the Night

2009-10-27T20:07:00.002-04:00

3 am and I was still awake…the result of surging adrenaline earlier when I let the dogs out one final time before bed. It was later than usual, 11:30 p.m. when two of the pups came running back to the house…the wirehair dachshund and the ridgeback (not so fierce in the face of danger, after all…). The American Staffordshire, Hazel, and Felix, the cocker-dock rescue, didn’t come back in with the other two and still didn’t come when called. (Hmmmm….some remedial training would be occurring later for them!) In my jammies and socks I trudged out to the totally darkened shed where they were carrying on, barking wildly. I couldn’t tell what they were all spooled up about in the dark, so back into the house I went for the flashlight. When I returned with the light, I saw wedged between the wooden privacy fence and the old pine tree, a very frightened and cornered possum. Now, Hazel, the Amstaf, really doesn’t give up very easily, and Felix, the rescue, was truly just along for the ride. Banging on the tree trunk with a shovel, I got Hazel’s attention (which was necessary, given her heightened excitement and determination at “saving” me from the possum) and reached around the chicken wire laid for my new chicken pen (yep, that’s right, I’ve got a possum living in the tree that corners my soon to be chicken coop and pen…) and grabbed Hazel by the collar. She gave up! And, Felix followed silently. I put them both in the house and then returned to make sure the possum hadn’t been injured. It is always amazing to me when a possum “plays possum”…what a dumb thing to do! There it was where I had left it, playing dead, perfectly fine…no blood, thank goodness! I put away the shovel, picked up the flashlight and left it there in the wedge of fence and tree to decide when it was safe to resume it’s nightly adventures. Or maybe it would just head back up the tree and call it a night.

Chicken Mama (or Crazy Aunt)

2009-10-15T11:44:00.000-04:00

I did it! In the past week or so, I have ordered my chicken coop, purchased the heated waterer and hanging feeder, researched and ordered organic grains and seeds for feed, and ordered fencing. My dad and I have agreed on the dates he is coming to help me build my fence around the sod I laid for their “chicken yard”. And, I ordered my chickens! Six adorable Wyandotte chicks that are currently 6 weeks old!

I wanted to order my chicks through an online source…but I waited a little too long and only day-old chicks were available. I’d like to continue being married, so I opted to look for a little older chicks. I went onto Craig’s List and found a post for 5 and 10 week old chicks just outside the city. I was contacted by the seller and found out that he is an 11-year-old young man who raises chickens for spending money! Pretty cool! He knew a lot about chickens so I think he will be a great resource for me when I take possession of the little ladies. He agreed to keep the chicks for me until the end of October when they are 8 or 9 weeks old. That way they won’ t have to be IN the house, but can be in my shed with a heat lamp in case it gets cold. And, he agreed to swap out any of the “ladies” that suddenly begin to develop more “manly features”. I’m not allowed to have roosters in the city!

Proudly, I am “Crazy Aunt Di” to nine nieces and nephews, aged 1 to 20. Only 6 of them are under the age of 11 and one is only a year old. In an effort to continue my reputation as the “Fun loving, cool Aunt”, I decided to have 5 of the chickens be “virtual pets” for my niece and nephews aged 5 to 11. I emailed them about my new adventure and invited them to participate from afar. “You each may have a chicken for a pet!” I told them. All I required was that each came up with a good name and one interesting fact about chickens. Here is what they came up with:

Olivia, 8 “Jenny” “Gallus, gallus, domesticus”, Latin for chicken

Ian, 5 “Sidney” you can hypnotize a chicken by holding it and drawing a line in the dirt over and over. The chicken will stay right there as long as you do this…(hmmmmm….)

Evan, 8 “Pot Pie” or “Pie” Chickens hatch from their eggs in 21 days

AJ, 10 “Puck” The largest chicken egg was 12 inches long

Stevie, 11 “Marge” Alektorophobia is the fear of chickens

The sixth chicken is for my 17 year-old-daughter who threw a bit of a fit when she found out the niece and nephews were getting a chicken for a pet but she wasn’t…she named her chicken “Melinda” and her fact is that chickens are the closest living relatives to the Tyrannosaurus Rex! Who knew?

I guess you’re never too old for a chicken!

Garlic, garlic, garlic!

2009-10-13T15:04:00.003-04:00

Garlic is a staple in our house. It literally gets used in just about everything I cook! So, I thought I’d give growing it in my garden a try. Garlic gets planted in the fall and isn’t ready to harvest until late July or early August of the following year. During one of our rare sunny days, recently, my father in law and I met at the “farmette” to sow some more fall crops and plant some seedlings. Very little weeding was needed…I guess all that rain does a number on weeds and crops alike! We prepared a new bed directly in the ground (not in one of my raised beds) by digging it deeply and breaking up the clumps. We added a little chicken manure, too. Of course, I started with the gloves on, but within a few minutes they were off and the dirt was chunked up under my fingernails. I love the feel of damp, cool soil when I am planting! We planted two types of garlic, both certified organic: Lorz Italian and Shvelisi (Chesnok Red). The garlic arrives in complete cloves the way it would be purchased from the market. To plant it, we had to break the cloves apart and place each clove in the ground roots down and pointy part up. No different than any bulb gets planted. They are planted shallowly, only about 4 inches deep. When the bed is covered back up with soil, a whopping 6 inches of leaf mulch goes on top. I think of the mulch like a nice down comforter in winter….nice and cozy! So now we wait. In the summer when the green stems start to turn brown and fall over they garlic will be ready to harvest. I might even try to make a garlic braid!

The Case for Family Farms and Family Time

2009-10-04T13:14:00.000-04:00

My 17-year-old daughter loves to go to the farmers market. Every Saturday that we can go, we do. This past Saturday was no exception.

Perhaps because of our regular jaunts to the farmers market, my daughter recently wrote one of her college essays about the value of family farms and keeping parts of America rural. While she was writing the essay we were discussing her views and I found it profound that young people see the need for organic and family run farms to succeed and indeed, thrive. They don’t want to lose what they deem is best about America…There is something romantic and almost idealized about family farms.

Purchasing food from the grower in a parking lot anywhere in America reminds us how close we are (and can be) to the earth and our food. Knowing who grew the food you are eating is important today and not just for health reasons. Knowing these individuals connect us to our food chain by providing us an opportunity to try new varieties of vegetables and fruits, often varieties we would never find in our grocery stores, to know that the animals we consume were raised humanely and compassionately and that their time on this earth had value and joy, that we support people’s passions for cheese-making and baking, flowers and free-range eggs. In short, purchasing food from farmers markets is a small act we all can do to support and even encourage the family run farm’s success.

And, it is a great opportunity to connect with your family; to discuss upcoming meals, find out what each other’s likes and dislikes are, and try new foods. I’m all for embracing those moments when my daughter wants to be with me, and it is effortless.

Water Woes-The Flood of 2009

2009-09-24T15:54:00.000-04:00

This past week in Atlanta has been a pretty scary place to live. I’ve never experienced such torrential down pours and so much water on the ground…everywhere! The water couldn’t be escaped!

My worries about my vegetable garden were nothing compared to what most of the metro area was worried about…homes, lives, belongings, pets. But, I was worried about my garden. Surrounded by two small creeks that feed into Nancy Creek, one of the rivers that overflowed its banks, I was virtually guaranteed that part, if not all of the garden would be affected.

On Monday, after days of not venturing over to see the garden out of fear of what I might find, I decided to go take photos. There are many ways to get to the property…three of which, I discovered the hard way, were blocked by the flooding creeks and rivers. I finally wound my way through a part of the neighborhood I had never been through before and found a path to our property.

My stomach was in knots as I rounded each bend in the road coming closer and closer to the property. Peeks of the green pasture, not muddy brown, came to me though the trees. Maybe it was okay? Pulling into the driveway and venturing towards the veggie patch, the pasture was completely dry! There wasn’t any evidence of flooding or water accumulation of any kind. I was stunned!

What about my recently planted veggie patch? As I approached the bridge over my little creek, I noticed the raging water, but it wasn’t even half way up the banks! And, no evidence existed that would suggest it had breached the banks, at all! I mustered the courage to walk into the garden, even though the rain had picked up and was now actually stinging me through my raincoat. Although the veggie patch was not washed out or under water, there was definitely some collateral damage from the amount and intensity of the rains we’ve had these past 10 days. Some seedlings were definitely drowned or washed away…most notably some of the root vegetables like the radishes and beets. But, others, like the collards, Swiss chard, peas and arugula were actually still there and seemed to be growing in spite of the harsh conditions.

We’ve had three days of sunshine now and tomorrow I’m going back to the veggie patch to see what crops have recovered and which ones will need to be scrapped and possibly replanted. I’m reminded of generations past whose survival and existence often depended upon their gardens. In spite of what grows or doesn’t grow in my veggie patch, I say a little prayer of thanks knowing that my family will eat tonight and subsequent nights.

Mother Nature's Composters

2009-09-23T19:38:00.003-04:00

Worms are Mother Nature’s way of composting. In nature, worms devour decaying plant matter. Their excretions help to loosen clay and enrich the soil for our plants and trees. Amazingly, we can channel these little powerhouses in our homes to reduce the amount of waste in our trashcans. And it is really easy!

Several years ago, in my master gardener classes, I sat in on a lecture about Vermi-composting. What the heck is that??? “Vermi-culture”, an incredibly rich source of soil additive, is the product of Vermi-composting. It is literally, worm poop! I was hooked! What a cool and efficient way of disposing of my kitchen scraps…no more grind of the in-sink-erator for me!

I bought the bins over the Internet and set them up outside my shed. I have a stainless steel compost mini bin under my kitchen sink where all my vegetable (no garlic or onions), fruit, pasta, rice, bread, coffee and tea grounds, and eggshell scraps go. Initially, about once a week, I “fed the worms”, much to the disgust of my family! And, those worms were well fed! They have multiplied over the years to the point that I have a second tiered worm bin added to the family. I now feed both bins at least twice a week! (It is a good thing that we don’t eat out too often and that I like to cook!) The “tea” or run-off liquid from the composter is a nutrient rich fertilizer: plants literally grow over night after being fed with the stuff. The worm-poop, added to my garden beds and veggie patch, reduces non-beneficial nematodes (bad soil bugs) and helps to enrich the soil. It is a win-win for the environment: Less kitchen waste ends up in plastic bags in landfills.

And, the worms make great pets for your kids! Seriously! Worms don’t live in your house, you don’t have to clean up after them, only get fed once or twice a week (and the kids can do it) and best yet, they cost nothing after the initial set up costs, including no Vet bills! Additionally, being a Vermi-composter is a great lesson in ecology and environmental awareness. I am always flabbergasted when I feed the worms and realize just how much plant refuse I collect on a weekly basis! I’m all into being “green” these days!

Jalapeno Onion Salad

2009-09-14T10:58:00.000-04:00

To make the Jalapeno Onions:

One red onion, sliced thinly

Olive oil

1 cup pickled jalapeno slices

½ cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

Saute' the sliced onions in olive oil to cover the pan until translucent. Add the jalapeno slices, apple cider vinegar and sugar. Mix well and continue to simmer until the liquid has been absorbed or cooked off. Remove the onion slices to a bowl to cool. The Jalapeno’s can be reserved for another time, thrown away or used in the salad.

Note: These onions are terrific on sandwiches, burgers, in omelets, and on steaks.

To make the Salad:

Baby mixed greens

Crumbled goat cheese (Chevre)

Store bought pralines

Place the greens in a salad bowl topped with the jalapeno onions, crumbled goat cheese and pralines. Lightly dress with your favorite salad dressing, although many people prefer not to add dressing because it is so flavorful.

Dehydrated Onion

2009-09-14T07:58:00.000-04:00

My dad said he would come down to Atlanta to help me build my chicken coop! Hooray!

When I was growing up in Southwestern Michigan, my dad could fix anything. A Veterinarian by day, I remember helping him on the weekends, paint, refinish floors and wallpaper the rental homes we owned. I have an especially vivid memory of Daddy installing a ceiling fan in he and mom’s bedroom and neglecting to turn off the “juice” to the room…I probably shouldn’t go in to too much more detail in case he reads this.

Anyway, Daddy can build anything. So, I’m very excited that he has agreed to help me with my chicken coop. I’ve decided to buy a kit…already pre cut wood, all the right kinds and numbers of screws and nails etc. We will put it together and paint it and voila`!

I think I got my gardening genes from my dad. (Mom kills all plants…)

When we were growing up Daddy had a really large vegetable garden outside our back fence. I used to help him. One night for dinner we were having broccoli from the garden. (I was an unusual kid and loved broccoli. I still do! ) My brother and sister and I were all served our plates with dinner on them. My brother (a VERY picky eater) hated onions as a kid. There were little white flecks on the broccoli that looked a lot like those dehydrated onions everyone used in the 70’s. Matt, my brother, started pitching a fit about the onion on the broccoli. Daddy told him to stop whining and pick them off. The problem is they didn’t really look like dehydrated onions to me, so I asked daddy what they were. I guess daddy was in a hurry with the broccoli that day because he didn’t pick off the little worms that were hanging out on it before he steamed it. It was a while before I ate broccoli without thinking about the “dehydrated onion” story.

I do wash all the produce that I harvest from my garden. I think there are plenty of great stories my kids will tell their future spouses and children about me without having a “mom fed us dead bugs for dinner” story.

Heirloom vs. Hybrid

2009-09-14T07:52:00.001-04:00

I feel invigorated and alive! Everyone has their “thing” that re-energizes them…for some it is tennis or golf, for others reading a good book and for me…I love gardening! And the weather is perfect for 4 hours of weeding, tilling, and harvesting. My father in law, Tom, and I are pretty pleased with the aesthetics of the garden…it is beautiful! I can’t believe I am still cutting zinnias, picking green beans and eggplant, peppers and tomatillos! And, better yet, the seeds we planted are starting to sprout!

About 10 days ago Tom and I pulled up all the tomatoes and squash leaving lots of room for new plantings. I am very excited about using heirloom varieties of vegetables, so I chose to only plant them. Heirloom varieties are non-hybridized and not genetically engineered. They are the plants of yesteryear…the vegetables our grandparents, great grandparents and great-great grandparents planted and ate. They are diverse and often are more disease and pest resistant than hybridized varieties because of their diversity. And they taste amazing!

Okay, so now I’m going to get on my soapbox for a minute…and I promise it will only be a minute.

Many of the vegetables and fruits we buy in the grocery stores are mass-produced from hybrid varieties of seeds. Hybrid plants have been hand pollinated instead of open pollinated (think bees) and they are genetically identical to every other of their variety. They are not genetically diverse. When we rely on one variety of a seed for a particular fruit or vegetable and a virulent disease or pests destroy that plant…that’s it. The plant ceases to exist. (Think Irish potato famine…) Planting genetically diverse vegetables and fruits is good for our future, our health and the health of the environment. For example: There are only a few varieties of hybrid apples, but in the world of heirloom plants there are 10,000 varieties of apples. If you want to know more on this topic, check out

http://www.seedsavers.org/Content.aspx?src=aboutus.htm

So back to the garden and those heirloom seeds we planted about 10 days ago that are beginning to sprout. The list is long…we got caught up in the act of planting! But, the names tell you a lot about the uniqueness of these varieties. I bet they will have one-of-a-kind tastes, too.

Black-seeded Simpson, bronze mignonette, butter crunch, Lolita and sunset lettuces, arugula, and spinach varieties New Zealand and strawberry

Mammoth melting sugar peas

British wonder peas

Lucullus, flamingo and oriole swiss chard

Chioggia (looks like a bulls eye to me), early wonder and bulls blood beets

Little finger and coreless carrots

Hollow crown parsnips

Black Spanish and brightest breakfast radishes

Lacinato kale

Georgia collards (I make fabulous ones for Thanksgiving every year!)

And an experiment with Pinkeye/Purple Hull peas

Dreaming of Chickens...

2009-09-03T15:31:00.000-04:00

Today I got an email from “My Pet Chicken” updating me on the currently available pullets. A pullet is a 10-12 week old chick that is about to begin laying eggs. I can’t tell you how desperately I want chickens…I think they are wonderful creatures, interesting and unique with the added benefit of providing fresh eggs on a daily basis. My family thinks I’m nuts… I think I’m a frustrated farmer. I probably should have been a farmer; but I’m not. I’m a city girl that loves to garden and loves animals. And, I can have chickens (hens only) in the city!

So I’ve been pouring over designs for chicken coops, getting quotes on having fencing attached to my garden for a run and reading everything I can regarding the care and raising of chickens. I have this fantasy that I’m having a big dinner party with my closest friends, the ones that love me in spite of my critters and penchant for taking on too much in my life, and we walk out to my garden to decide what to have for dinner! Can you imagine! How wonderful would it be to collect a few fresh eggs for a hollandaise sauce to drizzle over freshly picked and sautéed asparagus, or beets baked in a horseradish crust, grilled corn with lime butter, grilled pizzas made with fresh picked arugula and basil, freshly made ice cream made with a few more eggs! Yum!

Hubby wants me to slow down a bit. But, in keeping with my nature, I want it all NOW! There will be a full court press this weekend…I’ve got chicken coop designs out to share, adorable pictures of Polish and Silkie chickens (could a chicken be any cuter???), and I’m hoping with some great meals, nice bottles of wine and a little extra attention, I can convince him that now is the perfect time to add a few baby chickens to our nest.

Food for my Soul

2009-09-01T19:15:00.001-04:00

I've been neglectful... With kids to get off to college and back to school and other life stuff, I "let go" of my wonderful veggie patch; my source of serenity and purpose, for a couple of weeks. Four hours of weeding later, I'm hurting and feeling incredibly re-energized and appreciative of good, honest, hard work. Why did I let two whole weeks go by with out making it out to the garden?

My father in law, Tom, joined me today. A joyful sight greeted us as the zinnias towered over us both! After sort-of making a plan to divide and conquer, Tom tackled the woeful tomatoes (...yanked them out as they are pitiful!) while I pulled gazillions of weeds from the former corn patch and underlying the zinnias. We picked all the tomatoes, green and red (of which there weren't many), re-staked the eggplant, which is still producing amazing fruit, harvested all the acorn and butternut squash (before the squash bugs get them), and attacked the green beans...pulling up the "spent" plants and picking all the beans from the still producing ones. Several large, beautiful green bell peppers were also ready. I'm making stuffed peppers with them this weekend! And, I can't believe it, but there are tons more jalapeno peppers! I guess I'll be making some more jalapeno pickles!

All four of the pups accompanied me to the garden today! They roamed the "pasture" chasing rodents that scampered in and out of the rock walls, chased each other, and generally wore themselves out. When I finally put them in the cab of the truck to drive home, they all found a spot and promptly crashed.

I'm going back to the garden tomorrow morning...and not just because I didn't accomplish everything I had hoped to accomplish today. I need a little more "food for my soul" that only the magic of digging in the dirt delivers.

Creative Abundance

2009-08-24T17:50:00.001-04:00

I'm not a huge fan of jalapeno peppers so the reason I grow them in my veggie patch is difficult to pin down. Jalapeno's are prolific...probably any one can grow them with success...and that is probably why I grow them! I love the act of harvesting (what a waste, otherwise). But, what to do with a grocery bag of jalapeno peppers...

Preserve them! That's right, I decided to try my hand at making jalapeno pickles. The term "pickle" simply refers to a vegetable that has been cured in a vinegar and salt brine. Cucumbers are not the only vegetable that take to pickling. In fact, okra, cauliflower, asparagus and many other veggies are successfully preserved in this way. And, it is really easy! Seriously!

After scouring cookbooks and the internet for recipe ideas I settled on a straight forward one I found on cooks.com. I cleaned and cored the jalapeno peppers (the seeds and ribs are where the heat comes from), got my brine boiling on the stove top, prepped my mason jars and lids (which are available at most grocery stores), and started cooking. In an hour I was finished!

It seems like I had so many peppers to start with, but I ended up with only 6 pint size jars of Jalapeno pickles!

Half the fun of growing vegetables, cooking, and now preserving is to share the gifts from my garden with others. My son is headed back to college this week. He's a creative and wonderful cook. I'm planning on sending some of my jalapeno pickles back to Maryland with him. I'll also share a few with my friends as hostess gifts. And, of course I'll use a few in my famous "Mexican Salad".

Note: The brine is cooling in the mason jars, as I sit here writing my blog, and the lids are popping as they seal! Pretty cool!

"Do Overs"

2009-08-22T18:07:00.003-04:00

It is a struggle for me to pull out seemingly healthy plants because they are no longer producing at their best. But, this is one of the tasks of succession planting. This week I pulled out the first crop of harticort vert green beans I planted in the spring as the beans were no longer as sweet and tender as I wanted or expected them to be. And, because the second crop is producing wonderfully, I'm ready to use that spot in the garden for something else.

That mass of flattened corn I kept hoping would stand tall again and produce the ridiculously sweet corn my daughter loves...stayed flat on the ground. So, I reluctantly and sadly pulled it all up, too. Time to make room for fall veggies.

Succession planting, or planting the same crop several weeks apart to extend the season of enjoyment of the produce, is something I am committed to. I did it with all my root crops, but for some reason I haven't yet discovered, ALL of my root crops (carrots, radishes and beets) withered and died leaving me with no harvest to speak of. I have prepped a different area of my garden and have purchased new seeds to sow and am hopeful when I put them in the earth next week, that I'll have a beautiful carrots, parsnips and beets this fall.

Being a gardener means that failure doesn't exist. "Do Overs" and "Try Agains" prevail!

Grilled Eggplant Stacks

2009-08-19T12:58:00.000-04:00

1 medium to large eggplant, unpeeled, sliced thin

2 medium to large heirloom tomatoes, sliced thin

1 block feta, sliced thin

sprinkle prepared eggplant with basil, garlic and oregano seasoned olive oil (make your own or use store bought)

Place the eggplant slices on a hot grill, leaving the lid off, for about 1-2 minute on each side, until there are "grill stripes" on the eggplant and it softens. Remove the eggplant from the grill and briefly cover with foil. This allows the eggplant to continue cooking while it cools.

Create the eggplant stacks by layering one slice of grilled eggplant with one slice of tomato with one slice of feta with another slice of the grilled eggplant. Repeat until all the ingredients are used. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar OR balsamic glaze. Enjoy!

Bugs Bug Me

2009-08-19T12:48:00.000-04:00

My eggplant plants are just lovely. They look so healthy...and the eggplants themselves are shiny and lustrous looking. And there are lots of them growing on the plants, so I am looking forward to delicious, fresh eggplant for weeks to come.

Except, I'm a little worried about the "for weeks to come" statement. As I was recently cutting a ready-to-be picked eggplant I wanted to serve for dinner that night, I bumped a few leaves of the plant and noticed yellow bumps with black spikes coming out of them...about the size of a pea. YUCK! I'm pretty sure these weren't beneficial insects...so, like the good organic gardener I am, I hand picked...YEP...hand picked (with gloves on) the creatures off the backs of each leaf. And, I drowned them in an empty Vitamin Water bottle filled with insecticidal soap. It was probably a slow, painful death...but they were threatening my eggplant! Then, I sprayed the leaves down with the insecticidal soap just to make sure if there were any eggs hatching in the next day or two, they wouldn't have a chance of reaching maturity. These larvae could have been striped or spotted squash beetles or maybe another "nasty" I have yet to identify. I've had to pick some bugs off my acorn and butternut squash plants, too...maybe, they've migrated...

Needless to say, my goal is to utilize hygenic gardening practices to help discourage damaging insects from raiding my garden. By "hygenic", I mean, I clean up decaying or dead plant matter and remove it from the garden (I don't let it rot where it dropped), I gather and remove fruit and vegetables I "missed" from harvesting that are literally "rotting on the vine", and most importantly, I rotate my crops (I plant them in a different spot in the garden each year) so that insects don't set up camp for very long in any one spot.

And, I'm learning to not have such a queasy stomach when it comes to waging war on the uninvited and destructive visitors to my garden.

Sharing zinnias

2009-08-15T08:59:00.001-04:00

Zinnias are happy, bright flowers. I love them! I think they make people smile so I have lots of them planted in my garden. I love to cut them and give them away. As I was meeting my neighbor for the first time yesterday afternoon, I was in my garden cutting zinnias to give to her as a "nice to meet you gift". Bzzzz.... I kept hearing this buzzing sound as I carefully selected and cut each zinnia. Bzzzzz.... I chalked it up to the bees that were flitting from the nearby squash blossoms to the eggplant blossoms. Bzzzzz....Then I decided to look in the direction of the buzz...

I stood perfectly still and just listened. This is something I find I do more in my garden than anywhere else. I actually take time to enjoy the flowers and the vegetables and my surroundings. I feel like I lose my sense of time and schedule and so it is easier to give myself permission to pause.

The leaves rustled in the slight breeze which was a welcome relief from the late afternoon heat. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a flash of irridescent green on the fencing and realized the buzz was coming from a ruby throated hummingbird. It was quietly sitting on the fencing for my garden above the barely waving zinnias watching me cut them one by one. I stayed perfectly still and just enjoyed the moment.

I love cutting and sharing my zinnias. Now I know I'm sharing the zinnias with the hummingbirds, too.

Atlanta Farm Girl's Eggplant Parmesan

2009-08-12T10:13:00.000-04:00

Atlanta Farm Girl’s

Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:

2 medium eggplants, peeled and sliced thin

1-container whole-wheat breadcrumbs (or your favorite variety)

1 small handful fresh or 1 t dried, crumbled basil

1 small handful fresh or 1 t dried, crumbled thyme

1 small handful fresh or 1 t dried, crumbled oregano

1/8 t ground red pepper (or to taste)

3-4 eggs, scrambled

Spray oil (like Pam)

1-2 jars ready-made spaghetti sauce

Shredded part skim mozzarella

Grated Parmesan

Optional:

sliced tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini or other squash, fresh spinach etc.

Preparation:

Ø Scramble eggs in bowl and set next to stove top

Ø Mix breadcrumbs and spices in bowl and set next to stove top

Ø Have 2 greased (I use Pam) cookie sheets ready with small amount of ready

Ø Heat Oven to 400 degrees

Ø Prepare 9” x 11” glass pan by greasing (with Pam) and spreading small amount of ready made spaghetti sauce in bottom

Method:

Ø Dredge each slice of eggplant in egg followed by breadcrumb mixture to coat both sides

Ø Place eggplant on cookie sheet and bake in pre-heated oven for approximately 20 minutes until lightly browned and soft when poked with a fork

Ø Place cooked eggplant in 9” x 11” prepared glass pan layering as necessary

Ø Add optional mushrooms, onion and/or tomato slices etc.

Ø Cover with remaining spaghetti sauce

Ø Top with mozzarella followed by parmesan

Ø Cover lightly with foil for first 10 minutes of cooking time

Ø Remove foil and cook an additional 10-20 minutes depending on how fast the cheese bubbles and browns

Purple Harvest

2009-08-12T09:05:00.004-04:00

I don't have any irrigation at my "farmette", so in periods of dryness, like we've been having of late, I have a rented water tank from which I haul buckets of water to the individual plants in my garden. It's not a lot of fun...and very time consuming. So, I am always very hopeful when I see thunder clouds on the horizon that today it will rain. Today there are thunder clouds on the horizon...

A few days ago I harvested a beautiful eggplant from my garden. Holding the perfectly shaped fruit in my hands I reflected on how amazing it truly is that it didn't succumb to the insects I hand picked off the plants (I'm organic!) and that almost destroyed ALL my eggplant plants at the beginning of the summer, the heavy downpours contrasted with the periods of absolutely no rain...and sometimes no hand-watering, either, and the squirrels...who also love the vegetables I grow in my garden! And, last night I made my world famous (MY world, that is) "Eggplant Parmesan" for my kids. (I will post the recipe...it's worth the effort!)

Laughing around the dinner table enjoying a great meal from my garden is what it is all about for me. And, when my kids excuse themselves for seconds...It was a great day!

Tomorrow I'm going to think about succession planting...I've got to keep those kids coming back for more.

Growing in the City

2009-08-03T09:15:00.001-04:00

I am happiest when I have dirt under my manicured nails and sweat is running down the small of my back...I thrill when I am able to pick heavily ripe tomatoes from their vine, burgeoning shiny purple eggplant and perfectly shaped deep green peppers for the eggplant parmesan I'm making for dinner...and I rejoice when I'm watching the dogs run full tilt from one end of the pasture to the other, just being dogs.

For as long as I remember, I've wanted to live on a farm...well, I've always wanted to have lots of animals and a garden that sustained my family. This blog is the record of my adventure into being an urban farmer...

About 18 months ago my wonderful, non-farmer, husband purchased 4 acres of land inside the city of Atlanta for us to build a new home on and for me to, finally, have that big vegetable garden I've lusted for. It is just enough land for the dogs, horses and my some-day chickens to thrive.

With the help of my equally frustrated farmer, father-in-law, Tom, we planted the vegetable garden this past Spring in raised beds I built myself surrounded by an 8 foot high wood and wire fence I had installed to keep out the deer. My family couldn't wait for me to transfer the hundreds of heirloom seedlings I'd been nurturing under grow lights in our family room since February to the "farmette". And, although Tom and I had absolutely no success with the root crops and one corn crop was flattened by an extremely heavy downpour late one night in June, we've harvested lots of incredible heirloom tomatoes, jalapeno and poblano peppers, harticort vert green beans, eggplant, pea pods, okra and blueberries. There are a dozen each of acorn and butternut squashes, tomatillos, tons of paste tomatoes and more green beans and eggplant ready to pick and consume on the horizon.

I am hopeful that my little farm in the city, my "farmette", will remind me every day that all each of us really needs in this crazy, busy life, is a little sunshine, some water, a good foundation and a little love to grow to our full potential.