Nesting Box Coop Curtains

Nesting Box Curtains

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Shortly after we integrated the new chicks into the flock, we had noticed some of the younger chickens were roosting in the edge of the nesting box. Although we had not seen any of them just hanging out in the nesting box there were signs (chicken poop). It is possible this would not develop into a bad habit, but I did want to break them of this before it became a problem.

So, last Saturday I decided to make some nesting box curtains for the coop. I dug through my big bag of various material and scraps. I toyed with using some black and white cow print material that was left over from one of my son’s Halloween costumes as a child. He is graduating college in a couple of weeks….if that tells you how long I’ve had it. But then I found this old pink and white material that was perfect.
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Baby Peach Fruit

Peach Trees First Fruit – Remove or Not Remove?

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There seems to be a debate about whether to remove the first fruits of a peach tree (or any fruit tree). Some say removing the first fruits of a young peach tree will allow the tree to focus its energy on growing strong roots and developing its size so that it will produce larger amounts quicker and be able to provide adequate nutrients to its fruit in future seasons. While others say this is true, but not necessary. The argument is that it does no real harm to the tree to allow the first fruits to grow and you do not have to wait another full year to see some literal “fruits of labor”. The first fruits will not be as plentiful and maybe not as large, but it would be something.

About a month ago we bought 2 peach trees from Tractor Supply. These trees had already been pre-pruned to give them the U-shape that is desired for peach trees. They were good size trees with a descent thickness to their trunk (approximately 1 inch diameter). They were already blooming when we purchased them.  Initially, I would have guessed the trees were about 2 years old.
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Transplanting Mint

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Jon and I had discussed we wanted to plant a few herbs this year. We both thought oregano, basil, cilantro, and parsley to start off small with the basics. But I also wanted mint. Jon is not really a fan of mint and just doesn’t understand my need to plant it. I just cannot wrap my head around him not liking mint.

I love mint ice cream, Andes mint chocolates, peppermint patties, peppermint hard candy, candy canes, mint tea, mint gum (but it has to compete with cinnamon). Did I mention mint ice cream and Andes mint chocolates? Yum! Mint is such a refreshing and clean scent. I even put it in my wallflower scented plugin. Who doesn’t love a minty fresh mouth from brushing your teeth? Did you know that mint repels ants? I bet Jon will start liking it now. We have a serious ant issue at our house. Hopefully between the chickens and the mint we’ll rectify that.

So, a couple of weeks ago we picked up a 4 pack of peppermint plants at the farmer’s market. We planted them in a pot and set them out on the deck. They are doing quite nicely.

Peppermint Plants
Peppermint Plants

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Bare root raspberry growth after 2 months

Bare Root Raspberries 2 Month Progress

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Early in February we bought 4 bare root raspberry plants. As mentioned before, last year we did not have any success with some bare root raspberry plants we purchased online.

The raspberries from last year were shipped with some gel on the roots. Although this year we bought our plants at Tractor Supply Company, they were also bare root packaged in peat moss. Just a little over 2 months ago, we planted the raspberries outside and covered them with lots of pine needles.
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Adding New Chickens to the Flock

Adding New Chicks To The Flock

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Sunday at my parents’ house while sitting around the table eating lunch after church I began telling the family about my experience the day before with adding the new young chicks to our existing flock. As they sat around snickering at me my sister tells me, “That’s one for the blog!”. I thought to myself, “Hmmm, I don’t know if I want to share that or not”. But here goes.

First, let me clarify that our existing flock is not full grown chickens. They are about 10 weeks old now. They are getting close to full grown size, but not quite there yet. They also have partial comb and wattle growth, but they have not completely grown in. Here are a few pictures of them about a week ago, but they have already grown more since then.

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Winter Onions – 5 Month Update vs. Annual Onion Sets

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Last year we planted our first garden late in April basically all at the same time. We did have some successes, but we had some failures as well. For instances, our onions we planted in late April from seed! Our oldest even laughed at us for that. He knew we were not going to have any success from them.

Among several things that we have done to amend the soil for this year we were also determined to have a good onion crop. Back in November we planted some winter onions that Mama gave us. Then we bought onion and garlic sets from Tractor Supply in February. We planted the onion and garlic sets in late February and they are doing wonderfully! We are trying to mulch in between rows with leaves to keep the weeds down.

Onion Sets and Winter Onions
Left: Onions From Sets.  Right: Winter Onions

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The Blueberry Bushes are Flourishing!

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The blueberry bushes are flourishing and the fruit trees are growing like mad! Every day Jon and I like to “walk the grounds” to look at everything. This time of the year there are so many changes that spring up over night.

Last year we planted two blueberry bushes. They grew nicely last year. The blueberries and the grapes are the only thing that survived from our two large orders of trees, vines, and bushes. The blueberries are looking awesome already this year. Maybe we will get a few blueberries this year!

Blueberry Bush

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Planting Strawberry Plants

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Spring has finally sprung around our place! We have been blessed with several gorgeous sunny days in the high 60’s-70’s last week and this week we have had a few days of 80’s! The birds are singing and all around our little place there is new growth to be found…except for our 10 bare root strawberry plants. Sigh 🙁

It has been 2 weeks now and there has been absolutely no visible change. They still look exactly like they did when we planted them.

Bare Root Strawberres
Bare Root Strawberry Crowns At Planting

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Chicken Cam – Chicken Introductions

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A week ago we had taken the new baby barred rocks outside for their first time to play and explore. This Saturday the weather was gorgeous. It was warm and sunny. We decided to take the barred rocks out for another field trip and try out introductions to the bigger gals.

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