Turkeys And Chicks Are Here!

Chicks and Turkeys

Finally!  We've been waiting for these little cluckers for a while now.  Last Friday Kenn picked up our order of seven New Hampshire chicks, nine Delaware, and two turkeys.  Two of the Delaware chicks are roosters.  We are hoping to breed and hatch our own chicks and turkeys one day.

With our new addition we need to amp up work on finishing the barn coop!  I haven't been so helpful recently as a mole in my front landscaping has captured much of my attention.  He just won't die!  I should write a post about ten different ways not to kill a mole.  One of them being: don't stand over the moving mole hill with a shotgun because you'll be there all day which makes you late for your dad-in-law's birthday dinner.  But I digress...

Kenn has been ripping boards like a mad man to finish the siding on the barn coop.  Next we will finish the three doors.  One for us and two for the chicks and turkeys which will lead to the run.  This run will have tall enough fencing and netting over the top so that we don't have bobcats eating our chickens again.  Hopefully we can get all of this finished within the next month so that all 18 birds can be moved out of their current box house before they get too big.  I guess I should table Project Kill Mole for a while.

Jinx!

I guess I've learned my lesson after bragging about our beautiful spring weather.  Apparently the Grinch stole spring and started doling out mid-April snow.  The dogs are loving it but I'm a little worried about all of our crops that have already started peeking through the garden soil.

Barn Coop

Last week, pre-snow of course, we were able to get loads of outside work done.  Kenn has made good progress on the barn coop.  Almost all of the siding is up!  It has taken more than the average share of time since he has to cut down cedars on the property and then mill them up.  We keep reminding ourselves of how much money we have saved using our own lumber though.

Remington and the corn field

And our medical disaster dog, Remington, was finally able to get out and about to help spread some manure (no, not his own) in the corn field.  Another yard of good, mixed compost and soil should hopefully be enough to get the field ready for planting (weather-permitting of course).

In past years I have had trouble keeping birds away from newly planted corn kernels.  This year we may have to try netting or a scarecrow until everything has germinated.  It's tempting to set up a scarecrow just to see the reaction from our dogs.

Grape trellises and lavender

The early spring weather we were having had the lavender happy for a while too.  So in order to make more room for it to spread, I pulled the messy landscaping rocks out of the bed.  We can use the rocks in the future for the pig wall (more on that when we start getting ready for pigs).

Our wine grape starts will ship soon too!  We don't have our permanent trellises in yet but they need something to climb so smaller trellises will have to do for now.  The grape starts will be planted between the lavender plants since the soil pH requirements for both overlap.  Someday I'll have to set aside a larger portion of the property for more lavender since I plan on pressing the oil for different uses.