Pictures From our Tiny but Happy Homestead

I can't paint, so I Photoshop.
The big squash plant in the back, is in the middle compost pile.

Henna and Alpha. See how much smaller Alpha is?
I still need to paint that board!

She is a sweet little thing. She could see if she got her hair cut!

Last night I went out and took a bunch of pictures to share with you.
Today I went and found 6 plants for $2.10. 2 tomato plants, 3 Oregano, 1 pretty yellow Marigold, and a healthy looking Impatien.
I thought the Oregano was almost worth the dime I paid for each of them but after a good watering they don't look half bad.

There were beetles eating our peaches!

Who says chickens aren't cute? Look at that face!

Purple Iris seed pods? What do I do with this?

Rosemary

Purple sage

Comfrey

The start of a Amaranth flower

Gerber Daisy

Coxcomb: Was my Mother's Day gift from my Nate.

siamese-dragon-stir-fry-mix
Something that grew in this mix.

A baby zucchini!

My Happy, volunteer Marigolds 

First tomatoes

Joy Joy's carrots and pepper plant.

Bad baby squash bug. :-(  I squashed him.

The damage done by the squash bugs. :-(

Compost pile surprise! What do you think it is?

Why add Gerber daisies to my garden? Because they make me happy!
Flowers also attract pollinators,
 but I plant them because they are pretty.

Joy Joy's 4-H garden

Bug-a-boo's 4-H garden

Nate's 4-H garden

Can you feel the love? I didn't even have to tell them to pose and be cute.
It just happened!

Update about Chicken Tractor/Port-a-Coop

 So, I am long overdue for a post. I have done some things on the blog though! On the right side of the screen you will see a button under "Grab my button". (This was hard to make!)If you have a blog, I would be pleased as peaches, if you put my button on your blog.
Also, at the bottom of this post you will see a Facebook "like" button. (This was very easy.) If you have a Facebook account please like my post and or share my blog with others. I was feeling very much like a techie having accomplished this!

More important is the fact that John has finished the plans and they are ready to sell! Woo Hoo. I made two new pages today and they are on the top right. "Why have Chickens" and "Buy Your own Port-a-coop plans here!" Click on these for more info.

Anna, about 8 weeks old now.

How are your gardens growing? Our strawberries stopped as soon as the heat hit. Our lettuce is doing pretty good but some are starting to bolt already. I am spending a good amount (okay, almost all my time) in the garden weeding, and weeding some more. We ran out of funds this year before we could get mulch. We will make it though till I can find a free or almost free source of mulch. I guess the rest of the garden is okay. I hope to do a fall planting and make some cold frames. I will be keeping an eye out for old windows.
The kids 4-H gardens are doing well. & I will have to post a picture of the mystery squash plant that is growing in the mulch bin. It is a monster!

Alpha, is part Banty and so sweet and calm.

The chickens are happy and getting bigger by the day. They love Arugula, which is a good thing!    Because it has done wonderful in our garden... we all hate it. So I am happy that they like it. Waste not want not!

Gardening, Chickens, & Strawberries

It was a beautiful day today and I spent a large part of it in the garden. I LOVE being in my garden even if I'm not being terribly productive in it. I also love volunteers. Volunteers, as in plants that reseeded and are coming up in odd places as little surprises for me. I have a tomato plant coming up in the middle of one my  lettuce patches, marigolds coming up everywhere, and bean plants that I have been digging up and replanting over by the fence. OH! and a left over potato!

Does it look like a rooster?

 We hopefully be able to tell who are roosters and who are hens soon! The pen is okay right now because they are not full size yet, but we need to thin the flock, the sooner the better.

Lettuce Mix!

 We had a thunderstorm soon after I planted my lettuce seeds and I was sure they were washed away, but thankfully they just washed together in a smaller space. So it is a little crowded, but I picked my first salad with some fresh picked strawberries today....YUM!

Mint my friend gave me last fall.

 My friend Michelle gave me a part of her mint last fall and said it will grow anywhere and will take over. So I planted it in a space between my driveway and my porch where I hope it does take over. I was sure it had died but it has popped up in three spots!

Yellow Jacket was snooping around.
 I hope it does not make a home in my strawberries!

 I hope this was not a queen looking for a place to build a nest. I wish now I had smashed it with a shovel. Frank and Thomas have been attacked by these mean things.

YUMMY!

Bug-A-Boo picking strawberries, and my sign post waiting for a name.

Okay! So my wonderful hubby built me this really cool post over my garden where I could paint it and put a name on it. I was thinking of Serenity, I really like that but it also makes me think of the show by the same name. I enjoyed the show but its not what I think of in my garden. Selah is over used. Peace is too... well, plain. I was weeding to day and thought of The Garden of Weeden! I was told that was really cheesy, but that is what I do most of all in there. I also found out that it is the name of a popular marijuana game. Yikes! I don't want to give the wrong impression of what I am growing.  I am thinking of finding a part of a Bible verse about gardens.
So what do you think I should name it?

All but one went up when it was time for bed.

We are having a major thunder, lightning and hail storm right now. I am praying for my garden and my cat Scallywag who didn't come in before the storm hit. I last saw him running in a panic through the neighbors yard, away from us and safety!
Till next time! Be safe and dry. :-)

Chicks, Grubs and 4-H

Our Port-a-coop is coming along.

Chicks enjoying some sunshine and fresh air.

I love the look of concentration on her face!

Plants and seeds for the younger kids 4-H gardens.

I worked some in the garden today making rows and finding grubs which I sent with Nate, who happily ran them up to the chicks who ate them up. We have had to make a few changes in the port-a-coop plans, but it is coming along slowly but surely.

The chicks are getting their feathers.

Rachel needs to find a home for four of the chicks soon because they are getting too big to share that small of a space for much longer and the port-a-coop is only for about 4 hens but we are going to try to get away with 5.
Abby and I went to the extension office today for the Master Gardener's plant exchange and also picked up the plants for the younger three's gardens they are doing for a 4-H project this summer.

I also picked up this wonderful little booklet Keeping Garden Chickens in North Carolina. This is the opening paragraph:
Chickens can be a colorful, beautiful, entertaining 
addition to your garden, and a few hens in your 
backyard can supply all the eggs your family needs, 
along with litter (manure mixed with bedding) that 
can be used as a source of organic fertilizer. Your hens 
will supplement their diet with bugs and grubs, and 
they can turn your garden and kitchen waste into tasty 
eggs. No wonder you are interested in raising chickens!
Be sure to check out your local Cooperative Extension office for lots of help and information for gardening, livestock and landscaping for your area. Not to mention, wonderful programs like 4-H and Master Gardening classes!
The school year is almost done and I am as ready as the kids for a break! I am ready for the real life hands on stuff that is so much easier to do in the warm weather. Book work is fine when it is cold out.
I am off to bed now. Tomorrow is the last big day of homeschool programs including the homeschool chorus singing at the courthouse for The National Day of Prayer. Then Friday its back to work on coop and garden!

Some More Pictures of our Chicken Adventure

      The Incubator bought from Tractor Supply.

                                                         Got to keep them warm!

    Candled them at 8 days and could see life in 11 of the 12.

Here comes Alpha, named of course because he was the 1st.

                      Isn't he cute?

One of the others making a break for it. ;-)

   5 chicks waiting for the others to dry enough to join them.

  Rachel's little set up. Going to get a larger box in a day or two.

          These are what you call a Barnyard Mix. Which is chicken for mutt. :-)
They came from good healthy layers and should be strong chickens. I am glad we are doing this. It has already been a great life lesson for the kids and will continue to be one, plus a good Homeschooling and
4-H project!
Next post, I will show more pictures of their future home as its coming along.