Happy Harvest Blog
the melon doesn't get anyone excited.
Usually, melon rinds are a huge hit. I thought this one was just fine, but the chickens took a big pass on it. What is it, Mom? Is it good? Is it? Actually, not really. And they all moved on. This little one really wanted to try some, but I was too close for comfort. Every time I reach for it there's this loud clicking noise!
Friends
Apples and Sprout - inseparable. I'm pretty sure now Sprout is a hen, so they should stay friends for a long time. Cheeks and Galahad. Both are a little more adventurous than the rest of the Family, who are never far away. They are plucking the seeds off the ends of the dry grass together. Ketchup and Mayo. Ketchup is developing some scrappy cheeks, so she must be part Ameracuana. I gave up trying to teach them that they sleep in the big coop.
Seems like I've learned some things.
How to grow sunflowers and corn...Ugh, I've had little luck with either the last few years. And lettuce, yay! Uhoh, these heads are starting to protrude in the middle - going to seed. I'm good now for a salad a day for the rest of the season, I think. I really like this Merlot red lettuce.
Perching faithful
Interest in the new trees was muted. There was some investigation and hay scritching, but the first tree is still the crowd favorite. I do mean crowd. I mused "Why is it always the chicks that are so excited about the trees?" And HW said it makes sense; kids usually enjoy climbing trees more than adults. The winter is going to be interesting. I'm going to have to build some serious multi-level structures in the greenhouse this year. Somebody left me a nice feather in the garden.
The before bedtime lounge
Before it’s bedtime, 7-8 pm-ish, it’s the hour for serious lounging. The various chicken cliques are scattered around, and more likely to be settled down on the ground than perching above ground. They just sink down in the grass/weeds (or wherever they are) and have a little lull, maybe even a proper nap. Two of Ursa’s new chicks came supplied with the most amazing permanent eyeliner. It’s too bad I used up the name Cleopatra already (although it was entirely appropriate) because these two have totally Egyptian eyes.
this chipmunk is having a bad day
Another baby chipmunk went for a dunk in a bucket. This time when I lifted him out he didn't even have the strength to lift a limb or grab on my finger and was just a limp rodent in my hand while I carried him to get a rag, wrap him up, rub him a little to dry him off, and rewrap him in a dry spot. I don't know how long he was in there, but he was definitely near succumbing.
when we're dancin' beak to beak
I think we have our Oscar and Orlando! Baby beefin'. They freeze, staring at each other. It's quite aggressive, considering it's motionless. You can feel the tension. Then they pretend to go about their business for about a second and a half, then - Freeze! Beak to beak. Big yellow feet:)
Of mice and marauders.
Uhoh. The tobacco is taking off. It seems to like it hot in the greenhouse! It was just this tiny a couple of weeks ago. Yay! The ground cherries grew up while I had my back turned. They were also tiny and dismally flea beetle bitten, and I left them a ton of space for a back-of-seed-pack-described potential I was skeptical they'd fulfill, but they just might. They're surrounded by volunteer tomatoes from when the greenhouse lived here. The potato beetles have found me. I was told that was inevitable.
Full perching potential
Well, the chicks are all out. I figured it was today. The hens let me know when it's time. They become dissatisfied with the playpen and start doing this. Can you let me out? Then usually a chick leaks out (all of them can jump out the top anytime and sometimes do), and instead of helping it back in, I let all the rest out. Ursa Minor came out first and launched into a scratching demo the likes of which have never been seen. She was scratching and scratching, like crazy, like she meant to dig a hole.
Full mudface
Finally some rain! The pigs, who are usually muddy to the eyes, are today muddy to the ears. They look funny, with their eyes cleanish in the full muddy cones of their faces. By afternoon they had gleefully mudded the whole rest of their bodies until they had single cleanish strips only along their spines. One of the pigs has a predilection for bringing one or more of their rubber bowls into their house. Sometimes all three are in there, sometimes stacked.
Poppies and peanuts close at night
I've got some varmint taking out my beans. It's really annoying. I suspected a vole, but, would a vole cut down the beans and then drag them under the overhanging thyme and sage in the next bed? I've got something like a tiny beaver, felling beanstalks, and then hauling them to the adjacent garden bed to hide under herbs. These stalks are freshly wilted! I thought I already had scapes. These are the second round of late or postponed scapery.
Porch rabbit
Just when I thought the "wild" rabbits couldn't get any tamer, I took these through the window of the front door, a whole 7 feet away. I had had some bread crusts piled on the deck to bring the chickens, and this little bunny wasted no time hoovering up the crumbs. There's an even smaller baby bunny around that has the same white forehead spot. Unfortunately, I had just set down my camera, when the rabbit stretched out its nose to touch/smell my starts in the pot.
Summertime cuteness overload II
Apples and Sprout have a totally adorable thing going on. They're so attached. I hope it lasts into Sprout's adulthood. Also, Apple has made an astonishing and unexpected total integration into the general population. She's turned out to be a big Silkie hen, the opposite of what made her a house chicken in the first place. She's still extremely relaxed and mild, and rides my arm without hesitation, reasons why I thought she'd be attacked by the outside chickens. She's always been into hay bales.
Summertime cuteness overload
I rebaited the trap, in case there's a second raccoon, and the hens really, really, want that egg. Ok, we gotta work the problem! The little silver chick is the cutest thing ever. I wonder what s/he will turn out to be. Their colouring is uncannily similar to their mom's. Only, she's not their real mom. This one was hatched out of a full-sized egg, so there's no direct genetic connection to this mom. Maybe she's really the aunt, though (?). Whoa! What is that!?
Condiments
This is Ketchup and Mayo and their Mom. Every day they hop up on the edges on Silkietown for post-breakfast perching hour. In fact, they come and go all day. These are the year's first chicks, and they are now being taught to go in the coop with the big chickens at night. I fish them out of the Silkie coop and stuff them in the big coop, and they take it well, but in the morning, they fly home for breakfast and perching hang time with Mom.
The post-breakfast perching hour
Perching and arranging one's feathers hour. It's the only time besides bedtime that they all get together so closely. Pepper's thinking about a higher branch. The newest babies are on the grass today! This one little silvery grey one is adorable- a new colour; we'll see what he/she turns out to be.
This is Pepper
Pepper is "the black one" of Perchick's chicks, but is turning out to be a barred rock! At least, part barred rock. There is a suspect feather or two on his/her feet, and he/she's on the small side, so she could be a Silkie cross. I don't know what I'm going to get. Super cute, though!
Perchick has quit
She's done being a mother. It was very abrupt. She's over here, the chicks are over there...well they're just all over, now. Often in this pine tree. They are scattered, seemingly not too attached to being with each other, either, let alone Mom. It makes them really hard to count, now, to check on them, now they are roaming solo. They're so confident! So small still, but they think they're big chickens. Even in the coop at night, they're all scattered around, with their own little spot claimed.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
