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!!!!

Bruce relaxes

Bruce, the rooster, is doing great. He has to stay in with the guineas because he's a little younger than the ladies and when they see him they bop him on the back or head with their beaks. I take him in to visit occasionally and he likes it but they are a little huffy right now. So we'll let him stay where it's safest for now. Plus they have most of their feathers already and he doesn't so he still needs a little more heat. Speaking of heat, I brought him in to hold for a bit and decided to lay the heating pad on my lap for a little extra heat. He usually snuggles up in the crook of my arm but he decided to wander down and check out the heating pad. He laid right down and stretched out his legs and laid on his side. It looked soooo funny. He closed his eyes as if to say ahhhh this feels good. I let him stay a bit but then had to get some things done so back out he went.

Introducing "The Boss"

Today we got out first rooster. His name is Bruce, named for "The Boss." He is a Speckled Sussex and my husband is from Sussex County, NJ so that put him in mind of Bruce Springsteen. He is adorable. I think he's going to be a sweet rooster at least I hope so. We put off getting a rooster because I've never met a "nice" rooster. I have read a lot though about roosters that are handled a lot as chicks and they become very docile with people. So that's what I'm going to try. I held him all the way home and he snuggled right down and went to sleep, then he woke up to poop :-/ and went back to sleep. When I picked him up for this picture he snuggled down in my hands.

So far so good. We also got our first ever guinea keets. The are cute, all different colors and I hate to say it but they don't seem very smart. They are much more skiddish that the chicks but hopefully they'll settle in after awhile. They are pretty though at least now. We're hoping they do a job on the tick and bug population around here.

The chicks are growing fast but are not nearly as big as the Orpingtons were at this age. Several of them have their feathers already and are still tiny. The Delawares have names, Della and Stella. Della will let me hold her and she's very curious. Stella doesn't come near. We got these a little older than our 3 day old Orpington and they are not very touchable yet. I don't think I would do that again. I like being able to handle them when they are babies. Okay off to tuck everyone in for the night!!!

New Chicks on the block!!!

Hey, hey we have new chicks!! This time we decided to get a variety of chicks instead of just one breed. The bad part is the guy we got them from talked so fast I don't remember all the breeds :-/ I know we have 2 Delaware, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Barred Rocks, 4 Americana and maybe 2 Sussex. I guess we'll just have to wait and see when they grow up. I think we'll get a few more about 3 or 4 months down the road so we can stagger the eggs a little more. They are soooo cute!!!! They were in a cage with a wire bottom so when we put them in our little house with shavings on the floor they immediately started doing the bath thing. It's so fun to watch baby animals to big animal things. You would think they were too little to know but nope they do things just like they know exactly what to do. Imagine that :-) Oh the last pic is for you Jenny. I found some pinwheels :-)

More recipes

I sure do like this cookbook. The recipes are simple and the ingredients are all fresh. The flavors are light but a hint of zing. These two dishes were from the Mexican section. A rice and bean salad with a cumin vinaigrette dressing and a Veracruz potato salad. I like the potato salad because unlike the southern potato salad I'm use to it's not heavy with mayonnaise. The dressing is a simple lime juice, olive oil and oregano. These will come in handy this summer too because you can make both ahead.

Watching tv with Papa

Recently my granddog "Broch" visited. He is a very sweet black lab and very well behaved at home. However when he visits Nana and Papa he gets to do special things. One of those things is sit on the sofa with Rory. I know "only allow what you are willing to live with." Well I pretty much like snuggling with Rory on the sofa so I'm willing to live with it. And as for Broch, well how could I allow Rory and not Broch. So we decided to watch a movie and Broch was already laying on the sofa so Papa took the other end. Rory reluctantly climbed up in the middle. Broch is not her favorite black lab. He "likes" her a little too much. She looked longingly at Papa, willing him with her eyes to get off the sofa. He didn't budge so she practically laid on his lap for the entire movie.

Good mama!!!!

Zelda is proving to be a wonderful mama!!! She's very attentive and watches her babies and listens carefully for them. I was wondering how on earth they were ever going to get a chance to try eating grain. You see, Zelda is and always has been a very fast eater. Some people say give them what they can finish in 15 minutes, well Zelda finishes her allotted 1/4 cup in 15 seconds not minutes. I added another 1/4 cup of dairy pellets while she's in milk and now she can finish her 1/2 cup in the same amount of time. That doesn't give the babies much time to explore and test their eating ability. Well today I notice she left about a dozen little pieces and kept pushing them around with her nose while the boys looked intently at what she was doing. I don't think they actually tried any but she left it for them. Yay, such a good mama.

And out in the grass their little noses are under her head looking at every bite she takes. Then they will try to bite off a piece. Not much luck yet but they are trying. I have seen them nibble on the hay a lot though. It's funny to watch it disappear as they nibble.