Calling it a day

I spent about an hour making newspaper planting containers.  I don't want to say pots since they were small. The biggest issue was that I didn't want big ones since only one seed will go in each little cup.  I also didn't want them deep since they're just for the pre-planting time in the house.

Cut up the newspaper - actually cut it to half this size

Then cut that in half, and folded the top edge over

A Maglight flashlight was the best size I could find to wrap around

For the first 20ish, I folded the ends together.  After 20ish, I started using tape.

Folded the bottom up and twisted my hand around it to try to tighten it.

I couldn't set them down or they would start to come apart

 I made four at a time and then could hold them in each section of this tray and fill them with dirt.  Once the dirt was in, they stood up on their own and didn't fall apart.

40 cups here for the next wave of indoor planting in a couple weeks

I planted the cauliflower, scallions, and calendula (a flower the chickens will eat)

Here is a picture of the lettuce

And the broccoli finally started popping up

I moved a few huge boulders that took me awhile to maneuver  but I'm nearly done with the final bed and with raising the middle bed.  I still have to raise the largest flower bed that's at the front of the house.  I realized that it needs to be higher if I really expect it to hide the foundation of the house.  I had used much larger boulders, but it looks like I need a second layer.

I also brought in the rocks I collected this morning to paint as garden labels and strawberries when they dry.

I have to get the raised beds done tomorrow because I go back to work on Thursday and Friday and I'm renting a trailer to get soil on Saturday.

I wish I'd gotten more done today, but I also have to admit that I got 6 out of 9 things done on my list for today.  My back is starting to ache.

It's the little things

I had an unexpected day off from work and I was determined to use the time to get projects done around the house.  I have been so busy and overwhelmed with all of the things I have to get done around here, this was a sliver of a chance to try to catch up.

So I got to work on my herb garden and created these two stacks.

 An individual picture looks even better.

Later, I will clean off the pots and maybe paint labels on them

I'm going to plant my herbs in the pots and these will be at the start of the walkway through my garden.  I was working on the walkway as well, but after I got as far as the picture shows, I finally got up from the mud and looked at my work. It's crooked.  I went looking for my string so I could stake out where the path should be and fix it, but couldn't find the string or the ribbon.  This path is going diagonally through my garden, because it is covering the underground wires and ensuring that no one digs them up on accident.

Last night and this morning I was working on these markers.  They're just rocks that are painted.  I have no artistic ability and the fact that it started raining after I thought they were dry (and they weren't) only made things look worse.  I covered them up and hope I can salvage them.

I painted little rocks like strawberries because I had read that if you put them in strawberry patches before the season starts, the birds will go after them and will believe the real strawberries are also rocks later.  And then, the rain ruined them.  

The black dots smeared everywhere 

I had built up this raised bed for the strawberries that I transplanted, but today I added mulch around the plants and put the solar lights in.

Then I dragged the large boulders in this bed from around the yard and started building this one next to it.  This is the last raised bed that I have to make and luckily it doesn't have to be as high so I only need a couple more large boulders and then a few small ones.

 And then I built a third compost bin and fixed them to have front covers.  One bin in full and the second was just about full so I needed to start a third.  The messes from the chicken coop and the goat house go in here. Our kitchen scraps and grass used to go in here, but the chickens tear it all apart now so I'm not sure what will happen.

I would like to get more done out there, especially the boulders for the raised bed and a playset for the goats, but the rain hasn't stopped and my toes and fingers are burning.  Hopefully this break will give me some time to warm up and I can get back up there to finish two more tasks before the end of the day.

I'm not sure if she's hungry or just curious

I've been keeping Faith out of the kitchen so that she doesn't go crazy about the bird, but today she came in a few times and didn't even blink an eye at the strange "box" taking up half the kitchen floor.  And then I took off the sheet.

I actually let the child help in the kitchen

Today we made mini pizzas.  Just the typical recipe of English muffin's cut in half and then a scoop of spaghetti sauce, three slices of pepperoni, and some mozzarella cheese.  He ate one for lunch and the rest were put away to add to school lunches this week.  Normally I would freeze some, but the freezer is a bit full right now.

Sadly, the entire time I was beating myself up because I couldn't stop thinking "I could probable make those muffins..." and "Next summer I will have my own spaghetti sauce from my tomatoes..."  and "I have that recipe for making fresh mozzarella cheese...."

Someday.

Candeling

There is a thing called candeling that is done to chicken eggs.  It's basically shinning a flashlight through an egg and trying to see what is inside.  I candeled every egg tonight, and took pictures, but I really have no idea what I am looking for or at.  It seemed like all of the pictures online had veins running through them, and I didn't see that in any of my eggs.

I did see a couple that had a dark lump that would move around, which may or may not be good.

Another major problem is that I have no idea when some of these eggs were laid since I didn't realize Silkie Sue was hoarding so many eggs.

In any case, here are some of the pictures I took.

I think this is a bad egg, that circle around the left side is a "blood ring"

This darker area would move when I'd turn the egg over

Another darker mass that would move when the egg was rotated

We have a Chicken in the Kitchen

I've been worried about Silkie Sue for awhile.  I don't think she's eating very much, I've been putting water next to her nesting box but it always seems to be dirty or empty 10 minutes later, and I'm not even sure that any of the eggs are "good".

So I brought her in the house...

Holy Cow how many eggs is she hiding?!?!?!

Stupid Birds

Within about 20 seconds, the guinea attempted to get out of the fence, in the same exact spot, three times.  I think this is enough proof and didn't take pictures of the next 87 times she tried to do the exact same thing.

Carrie and her weird ways

I was waiting for Buffy to finish laying an egg and Carrie decided to hang out.

And then she decided she wanted to get IN the coop...

Now, you have to share...

I've been wondering how the other birds were laying new eggs in the same box that Silkie Sue was in.

Now I know

Gardening is around the corner

I had planned to rent a tiller to get my garden ready.  Then I realized I wanted to scrape the top layer of dirt off some areas to expand the garden, which would require a bobcat or tractor.  So I figured I would have to rent that AND a tiller.  And then I found someone who would come and do the work for me, and only charge me $25 more than what it would cost for me to rent the equipment.

It was getting dark when he finished

 Good timing too, because check out my tray of lettuce seeds.  They don't go into the ground for a couple weeks, but clearly I need to start measuring the rows and planning things.  The first seeds go into the ground the first week in March.

A whole tray of lettuce