Squash, squash and more squash. Oh it's soooo yummy. I really wish it would freeze better but that's okay we can enjoy it while it's here. Here's a picture of some we grilled. Then to use the left over I just cooked a little pasta, tossed it with some pesto and topped it with some feta. Oh boy is that yummy. Also a picture of poor Rory. We fenced the garden this year to keep her out. She picked her share of tomatoes and collards last year so we thought we would help her restrain herself this year. So now she just stands at the fence with her long pout on. I usually give her a treat maybe a strawberry or something when I come out. Gotta go pick some squash, they grow overnight!!!!!

First fruits!!!

Yaaaa!!! It's just starting. We picked our first squash and zucchini today!!! Hmmm?? How will I prepare them?? I think I will just cut them in chunks toss in olive oil and roast, can't wait. Oh and then at lunch we picked strawberries. Just enough to share and have a little sweet treat. And boy were they sweet. It made me want to plant a whole bed of strawberries. The garden is growing quite nicely. I'm experimenting with some different things this year. I'm trying some of the "red" plastic mulch. It's suppose to make the plants produce better. We decided to plant a few things in the ground as well as our boxes, mostly because we just didn't have enough room in the boxes. So far it's doing well, all except the beans. They obviously are a treat for some insect. I managed to plant squash, tomatoes and cucumbers as plants then start seeds so I will have new plants bearing as the old plants are starting to finish up. I also plan to root some suckers from the tomato plants to have late season tomatoes. I have to watch Vince though he wants to root every one he pulls off!!!!

Making a scarecrow!

I just had a wonderful visit with my daughter. Her hubby went to Washington for the weekend so she visited with us. I just love her visits. We decided to make a scarecrow for the garden, not really to keep the birds out. We just did it for fun. So while we're making the scarecrow we decided to let Zelda and Basil out. Not so sure that was very productive but it was fun. Zelda jumped right up on the hay to "help" us. Basil (aka BaBa) just walked around looking for cookies. She's always looking for cookies. The scarecrow is still in progress. She'll be hanging around in the garden a little later. It was a blast of a weekend. Jenny got a real kick out of Wyatt singing love songs to Zelda. We hope to let them get together around November. Right now Zelda just beats him up all the time. He continues to sing. Poor guy.

Go girls go!

Cool!!! This is the best tiller ever. I wanted to do something about the grubs and slugs in the flower bed before planting this year and so why not use the best grubbers ever. I had an extra piece of fencing so I pulled it around front and blocked off a small area where the flower bed is and invited the girls in for a treat. It took a few minutes for some to figure out how to get around to the other side of the gate and I even had to carry a few but once they were over there boy did they get to work. Some of them work really hard and stick with it looking for every bug while others will walk from one to the other waiting till they dig something up then snatching it. Ha, I've met people like that. Well it didn't take long before the soil was looking rich and black from the scratching and I saw lots of bug eating. One of them snuggled down beside the brick for a quick bath. Whew!! That was a lot of work I think I need a break now. Now I need to get some seeds started.

Spring Fever

Well I know it's still a little down the road but I just had to plant something. Last May when Jenny and Matt were moving she gave me her African Violet to re-pot. During the move it just kinda sat there and since it was doing okay I didn't rush as you can tell. I noticed a few weeks ago it had a baby so I thought I'd better give it more room. I got this pretty pot at Lowes and I already had the others. I separated the baby (poor thing) from the mother plant and re potted them both. The darker one is from my mom and it needed more space too so I did it at the same time. I guess I should take Jenny's back to her now. I will miss it though. It's so pretty. I think she'll let me keep the baby one and it will be just as pretty. It's leaves are a little floppy right now. It's probably sad cause it misses it's mommy, but I'm sure it will perk up. Anyway that gave me a little satisfaction just getting my hands in some dirt. I think I'll plant some seeds tomorrow. It will be here before you know it!!

Garlic is in!!!

The garlic is in!!! After reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, I am very excited about planting different varieties of vegetables. I just thought garlic was garlic but there are so many different flavors. I chose the Organic Polish Softneck in honor of my hubby's Polish heritage. It boasts to be for lovers of hot garlic (that would be Vince) and I am not sure I have ever had "hot" garlic. We planted 64 of the little buggers. That should be enough to hold us for a little while. We took a little of the wonderful compost that cooked over the summer, mixed it in the boxes and just poked them in. I ordered a milder one too, but it was already discontinued. We got it in the ground just in the nick of time. Next year we will plant it a few weeks earlier.

Cleaning the chicken condo!!

Condo cleaning day!!! We wanted to put in some fresh pine shavings before the cold weather gets here. So we scooped all the old out into the run and put fresh on the floor. Underneath the shavings vinyl flooring to make cleaning easier. The buckets are old paint buckets complements of D&J Painting (my brother) in Thomasville. They have shredded paper in them to make the chickies comfy while they lay their eggs. The shelf above the buckets catch the dropping from the roosts which helps make clean up a breeze plus it helps keep the shavings dry. There are a couple of chickens that are a little scared to fly down in the morning so Vince has been helping them. Ha! now they are "waiting" for him to help them. There's a slide door over the hole where they go out into the run. This way we can lock them up safe and sound at night. No chicken dinners for Mr. Fox or Mr. Raccoon. Mr. Raccoon got into our last coop. So now the chickies have a nice clean house for the winter. Oh did I mention the chicken poop gets scooped into a pan every couple days and goes into the compost barrel. Boy does it make for some nice fertilizer.

Yummy food!!!!

Oh my the garden is doing great!!! I'm not so sure about picking off the cabbage worms but otherwise it's like magic. I look at each plant and it's like you can see it grow right before your eyes. We've had a couple pickings of peas already, the broccoli is beginning to head up and so is the cabbage. Vince put a cooker on the deck so I can cook up the collards outside, not really the best scent for inside, but good to eat. The chickies get the worms and the leaves that we cut off but don't use. That's one of the great things about having chickens, nothing goes to waste.