The first tomato and pepper of 2012

It's the little things in the garden that make it exciting.  Like finding this first little Sungold cherry tomato.  I know that shortly in the future I'll have a whole lot of these little guys to enjoy!

Sungold cherry tomato (a bit out of focus)

And just as exciting, I noticed the first cayenne pepper on one of the plants.

Cayenne pepper (also out of focus)

My camera work was just not up to standards today, but perhaps it was the excitement of the fruiting plants that caused me to be unsteady. :)

Chicken Chatter: Poor Angel is getting picked on again

I don't know what it is about Angel that causes her to be lowest on the pecking order. And I know that there is little to nothing that I can do about her social standing with the rest of the flock.  But I wish that the other ladies weren't so darn mean to her!

The other chickens peck Angel so severely that she is now missing a chunk of feathers on the back of her neck!!  Poor little thing.  I think part of the problem is the fact that Angel doesn't always run away when she is being pecked--sometimes she just crouches down and lets another chicken peck her repeatedly.

Angel, missing neck feathers.

Our two black chickens leave Angel alone for the most part.  It's the buff orpingtons that cause most of the problems.  June has been attacking everyone lately because she is broody--and apparently that causes general moodiness in chickens.  Sunshine, on the other hand, has no excuse -- she's just a down-right mean chicken when it comes to Angel.

'Who, me?'

I wish I knew how to stop that behavior, because Angel is the sweetest little chicken in the flock.

Chicken Chatter: Baby chicks video

We've had our hens for over a year now.  My husband and I are debating whether or not to add a few more hens to our flock.  It made me think to look at old videos of our present flock when they were babies. Here are the 5 girls when they were just 2 days old!

This week in the garden: May 23, 2012

Well, the last of the summer plants went out this month.

The summer squash (golden zucchini, black beauty zucchini, and ronde de nice) and winter squash (acorn squash) were direct sowed on May 6.

The beans (greasy bean, rattlesnake, trio beans, dragon tongue, mooncake soybeans) were direct sowed on 5/8.  Many of the beans were put in the same spot as the peas, but we left the peas in place. We'll cut the peas down after they are done producing, but before the beans get to a large size.

The peppers (cayenne, jalapeno, sweet jemison, chocolate cake bell, and tabago seasoning mix) and eggplants (rosa bianca and long purple) were all put in the soil on May 10. Okra (clemson spineless), basil and parsley were sown on May 10.

I think I'm pleased with our timing putting out the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants this year.  But I believe we could have planted out the squash a little sooner (judging by our neighbor's large squash plant). I'll have to pay more attention to soil temperatures next year!


Here are some pictures of the garden: 

Snap peas 

Blueberries!

Ever-bearing strawberries.

View from the porch.

Harvest Totals: April 2012

Things finally started to pick up last month.  The big ticket items for April were greens.  We harvested 6 lbs of lettuce and 20 lbs of collards.  And we harvested 4 lbs of other veggies -- like snow peas and cabbage.

I'm pretty pleased with our performance so far this year--and the best is yet to come!

April was a vast improvement over the earlier months.