Farming by the Numbers

I have my recycled tractor tire herb garden ready to plant...even bought a few baby herbs to get it started, but first have to figure out how to convince the kitties that it is NOT their new litter box.

HMPH.

In the meantime, I am a bit surprised and proud of myself for working out all of the logistics.  Instead of randomly buying a bunch of garden soil, and winging it, I thought I'd figure out how much I would need in a scientific manner.  So of course, I turned to my stellar geometry whiz of a daughter, and asked for the formula for the volume of a cylinder.

V=pi*radius squared*height

The tire is about 45 inches in diameter and 15 inches high, so if you do the math, it comes to almost 14 cubic feet.  I bought 3 - 2 cubic foot bags of garden soil at Big Lots, and hauled 4 wheelbarrows full of manure and compost from the garden, and it filled the tire perfectly.

Other numbers on the farm include 30 pullets and cockerels, who in 43 days, have eaten 140 pounds of chick feed.

There are also the 22 hens, who in the past 11 days have laid only 99 eggs.  That averages to 9 eggs per day, which means that less than half of the hens are laying.  Pathetic.

It has also rained approximately 4.08 inches so far this month, which is why I have only 2 out of 16 garden beds planted.

The good news is that it is 8:33 on Thursday evening, which means that there are only 15 days of school remaining this year, and just 18 more lunches to pack.

May Showers and Flowers

The sun is finally showing itself after a week of rain.  There was a frost warning last night, so I covered my strawberries.  We didn't get frost, but it was COLD this morning!  I was worried about my little recovering chickens during the cold night, because it is difficult to keep the Egg Cart'n warm inside.

They did fine overnight.  It has now been a week since I put my Tractor Supply chicks in their own quarters for daily nursing care.  They are doing much better, and starting to re-grow some new feathers.  The wounds are still healing.

 

While  I was out uncovering plants this morning, I took the time to take pictures of my flowers.  They look so pretty in the sunshine!

These are my 'Nelly Moser' and 'Wildfire' Clematis.
I also have a red 'Earnest Markham' one, but it has
never bloomed!

 

My grandma's Purple Iris (you cannot possibly
kill this one), Salvia 'May Night', and some
Solomon Seal behind the Iris.

 

My large flower bed has Iris (Grandma's Purple, and
some yellow ones), several colors of Columbine,
Lamb's Ears, Yarrow & Bee Balm (not yet
blooming), and 'Sorbet' Peony.  The Lupine will bloom
soon, as will my other Peonies:  'Sarah Barnhardt',
and another that will bloom this year for the first time.



This is my stone wall shade garden:  I have 3 varieties of
bleeding hearts, and 'Tiramisu' Coral Bells, as well
as some garden mint.

Raising Feminists

The sky is turning black, and there are tornado watches in our area, so I will make this brief so that I can turn off the computer!

You may think that I am writing this post about my girls, but I am not.  I am writing about my 29 red x-link pullets.  I noticed about 2 weeks ago that 4 out of the 6 peeps that I bought at Tractor Supply appear to be cockerels.  Just a few days after that, I noticed that all 4 of them were missing all of their tail feathers as well as most of the feathers on their backs.  I slathered them all with bright purple "Pick-No-More" lotion, which is supposed to stop picking and help with healing.

A few days later, their tails looked decidedly better, so I have been applying the goop about every 3-4 days.  This morning, however, just 24 hours after the last application, 2 of the cockerels had bloody tails, and I caught the red pullets in the act of pecking them.  This had gone beyond picking out feathers, they were through the skin and into the flesh of the poor little guys!  I removed them from the aggressive young ladies.

A couple of hours later, I found a 3rd cockerel bloody and being actively pecked.  I moved all 4 of the cockerels to the empty Egg Cart'n for respite and recovery.

So it appears that my pullets have gone past being simply strong women, to being raging feminists.  I actually looked up the antonym for "misogynist".  Although rarely used, it appears the correct term for these little beasts is "misandrist" - a hater of men.

Gonna Be Startin' Somethin'...

I have several projects in various stages of completion.

I finished painting the trim around the windows and doors of the Chicken House.  We also created a run for the pullets (and cockerels), and they have been spending some time out of doors every day.

 

I pressure washed the propane tank, and started spray painting it with grey primer/rustoleum.  I am planning to decorate it this summer, so this is the first stage of the project.

 

JP brought this tractor tire up the hill this evening.  Ages ago, someone dumped it in our creek down below, and I am going to recycle it as an herb garden, just a few steps from the kitchen door.

 

I also have stain purchased to paint the tree house, which is looking rather bedraggled lately.

In the meantime, L had a project of her own going.  Thursday evening was her Science Fair, so she displayed her electromagnet.

 

Friday a week ago was J's final middle school chorus concert.  She and her bestie sang a duet, and kept it a secret from me until I sat down at the concert and read the program!  They sang "For Good" from the musical, Wicked, and did a lovely job.  The girls are continuing to get compliments from the general public!  I will try to post it here if I can manage it.

 

 

We have had heavy thunderstorms, and then beautiful sunshine this weekend.  I spent a couple of hours walking through the woods this afternoon, looking for morels.  I didn't find a single one!

The peas are up, and Monday begins the final month of school...oh thank goodness!

Awkward

The chicks are in that awkward, gangly, pre-pubescent stage, with tiny feathers sticking out all over, except on their fuzzy little heads.  I am becoming more and more sure that some of my "bonus chicks" are actually roosters.

Little by little, I managed to get all the weeds out of my Moss Bed.  I sat on the rocks on my butt for hours to get that done.

L and JP worked for several hours over break on her Science Fair Project.  Unfortunately all the work was futile...they were unable to nudge any power out of a pile of potatoes.  At the last minute, she decided to switch to an electromagnet, and it works like a charm.

Math homework is driving me crazy this week.  It's actually making me weary.  6 more weeks of math, people!

This time of year is actually beautiful - it's my favorite time of year, when everything comes alive again.

I harvested a handful of asparagus and of rhubarb from the garden this afternoon.

Here's my field of baby clover:

My new bleeding heart (and my new favorite) is blooming for the first time:

The Redbud and Dogwoods are gorgeous in the woods:

 

And it just rained, so everything is clean and shiny:

Spring Break

This year, JP managed to get time off during the girls' Spring Break - and miraculously we had the entire scheduled break off because of no snow make-up days.  At the last minute, we threw together a Rock-N-Roll Spring Break for the girls.

We started it off with a trip to Wheeling to see a Beatles tribute band (Classical Mystery Tour) that played with the Wheeling Symphony.  We got really great seats, and really reasonable rates, and had a fun time!

"Paul" and "George"

A day later, we drove up to Cleveland.

The girls by Lake Erie

There we visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

There we saw more Beatles,

and some of this,

 

and MJ's glove,

and a bit of that.

ZZ Top's drum kit

It was fun too.

We got home last night, and had our Easter Egg hunt in the barn today due to rain. 

 

It has been a really nice break, with lots of down time, as well as some work and long over due appointments.  JP saw his retinal specialist, who told him that the poor vision in his "bad" eye is now due to a cataract (an expected complication of his past surgery.)  I have another appointment tomorrow, and we are expecting our friend, C, to spend the day with us.  L has been working on her Science Fair Project, and it hasn't been working - she is starting a new experiment now.

On Tuesday, it will be back to work and school, with no more breaks until Memorial Day - right before the end.   Sigh...hopefully the Rock-N-Roll memories carry us through!

A Peep of a Different Color

All of the peeps that came in the mail last week are doing well, save one who appears to have been injured.  She is limping around and sleeping a lot.  I try to place her by the food and water every couple of hours during the day, as she doesn't seem to try to get there on her own.  She is the tiniest one by far, and it's still a bit touch-and-go with her.

 

I was thinking that, although extremely cute, my peeps were a bit homogeneous in appearance.

 



Even Chaz thinks they're boring.

I happened into Tractor Supply Company earlier this week, and noted that they were selling a variety of chicks of indeterminate breeds for just $1.99/each.  I decided to bite the bullet and get a half dozen to "flavor" my flock.  The kind TSC employee tried to be certain that she got all pullets.  I have spent more than an hour on line, trying to identify the breeds of these chicks, but I can't be certain of that either.  I guess we'll know in a few weeks what sex and breed they are!  I thought it might be fun to get some that lay another color of egg, so I'm hoping that one or more of them are Americaunas.

 

The more adventuresome of my peeps have been "flying" up on to the side of the bin, and then falling off on to the floor for the past couple of days.  They are also roosting on top of the feeder, and on the hospital box that the gimpy chick was isolated in.  Last night I dreamed that 5 of the peeps died because they fell out of the bin, couldn't get back in, and got too cold overnight.  Today I moved them from inside the bin to half of the smaller side of the chicken house, and put the roosts down for them.  They seem to enjoy it!

I did manage to get 2 beds broadforked in the garden, and got my peas planted last night before the rain came today (and SNOW is forcasted for tonight/tomorrow!)

In the old chicken pasture, the red clover that I sowed is coming up.

All is well on the "Farm" this Spring!