I’ve been quiet for a couple of weeks but don’t want it to seem I’ve dropped off the face of the earth.
I was ill a couple of weekends ago. Since then I’ve been exhausted and cranky. I think the crankiness is mostly related to working too long without time off though. There was even a day that I had been at work for two or so hours before discovering that I was supposed to have been off that day. Boy did that rev up the crankiness! Now, though, I have a week off from my job. Hopefully during that time, I will be able to unearth my tolerable self to take back to the office.
Despite this, a few things have been accomplished on the homefront, although at a rather slow pace.
I harvested the last of the radishes and the green peas that had been planted in the Greenstalk. I harvested the few radishes in my raised bed garden that the chickens didn’t destroy before I got smart enough to cover it with chicken wire. Tonight I pulled a bunch of carrots from the raised bed, too. Yum! The carrots failed in the Greenstalk so I was glad that I had planted them in a second space. The peas in the raised bed have lots of flowers and a few pods but it’s getting awfully late in the season and I don’t think I will get to harvest them before the summer heat overwhelms them.
We laid concrete pavers and put the Greenstalk planter, and it’s newly acquired wheeled base, on them. It is really helpful to have it more mobile.
We pulled the small coop out of the barn (the one that we had kept the sick roosters in) and cleaned it thinking our rooster, Road Runner, could be removed from the main coop for awhile to give the hens some relief. He has been too “vigorous” with them and the two legbar hens (Caboose and Pecky) have had their feathers stripped from their backs. The chicken saddles I bought were helping until they learned how to remove them. Eager had finally stopped being broody but then started again a month later – I think to keep away from him. In the end, the plan to remove the rooster did not come to fruition because that’s when a heat wave hit the area and it was just too hot to confine him like that.
We finished building the brooder box for the chicks that are supposed to arrive this week. So, other than picking up chick feed, we are prepared for them.
Best of all, my 13-year-old grandson (from Colorado) and my 10-year-old grandson (from Troutman) are here and they will spend my week off with me. The plan is to begin building the fence and paint the chicken coop. The weather man is calling for rain this week so we’ll see what actually gets done. They are looking forward to picking up the chicks with me on Thursday and will be able to enjoy them for a couple of days before returning to their homes.
I am really looking forward to this next week.
My Provident Journey 