Sunday - (not a sunny day) 4/30

The CEO and I were checking for today's production. Nothing yet. The girls don't seem to have a specific time to lay. They just squat in the roosts and let loose!
We noticed a few other critters came to say hello......

Usually the girls don't mind sharing, but today, it was different. The chickens allowed the ducks to drink for a while. Then, Pepper ran the female duck away and the male was right behind quacking loudly. Pepper acted like the bully in the schoolyard. The birdbath is mostly for the chickens, but they tend to stand in it or use it as a bidet.

None of the chickens like the squirrels. Not sure why. Maybe its a learned behavior from the dog. As old as Leia is, she'll muster up enough oomph to run and bark at them.

 

The artichoke is doing nicely. Didn't know that there can be several 'chokes from 1 stalk. That's a neat discovery. The leaves however, aren't edible. They taste quite bad. Yuck!

 

As I was checking the 'chokes out, I didn't realize I had an audience

those little cluckers followed me all around the yard and even tried to follow me into the house!

Nope. Not today. Not happening girls!

Its beginning to rain. I've gotta help the CEO corral the girls in the coop. The breakfast for the day is French toast with French bread and farm fresh eggs and a side of ham, yum!

 

 

P.S.

An update from the mockingbird nest at my sister's house. They haven't seen the mama, but the little eggs are safely tucked away in their nest.

 

4/22 2.0

A couple pictures I forgot to add:

The potato crop. We've had a previous harvest - they were yummy! These were planted from the "eyes" of potatoes that we had purchased and let sprout. We did the same thing with the onions and garlic.

And this little guy.......

 a very small artichoke. How cool is that?
Can't wait to taste it.

This is what the plant looks like - its quite large, kinda like a prehistoric fern!

its about 3 feet across. The leaves are supposed to be edible too. I think I'll try them next.

Off to "chicken watch". Hen Solo is eyeballing me :)

April 22

The hens are ramping up egg production. The Chicken Scratch Farm CEO and CEC (Chief Egg Collector) goes out daily to check on the production line. It seems only 2 hens are in active production - so far. I think that Employee of the Month needs to go to Nugget. She has surpassed our expectations. Their benefits plan is also attractive. All the bugs they can catch and eat, along with an employer offered meal plan of their choosing - laying mash or the veggie garden. They opted out of the maternity program. Thank goodness!!

The corn isn't "as high as an elephant's eye", but it too, is growing well. This was an accidental planting, via the squirrels. They eat the corn on the cob and what fell into the garden took root. Lucky us.

The Louisiana Irises! So beautiful and delicate.

we even have edible flowers, pansies, that I frequently add to my salads

My sister sent a picture of some eggs she found in her sweet olive tree, she said they belong to a mockingbird. Here's the picture

so stinking' cute! Don't ya just love spring?

4-15 Holy Saturday/Tax Day/Crescent City Classic Day

my views of starting line, finish line & participation medal

 

 

Today I walked the Crescent City Classic - this makes 6 times. Not bad for a senior citizen. My feet are killing me!!! Fleet of foot, I am not... never have been. So, the decision to walk has never been upgraded to jog or, heaven forbid, run. If there would have ever been a reason for me to run, zombies would have to be chasing me.
Passing the ever beautiful homes along Esplanade Ave, is a reason in itself to walk that course. The ancient oaks that line the street and gently shade the participants as we walked by, gave a respite from the sunny day. But, this is New Orleans, right? There is water passed out along the route, as well as alcoholic beverages to whomever has the urge to partake. There are serious runners mixed up with the not so serious ones too. We never miss a chance to turn something into our own take on the venue. Laissez le bon temp roulez!

Good Friday 4/14

The gardenias are going crazy!

Their beautiful fragrant, waxy, blooms are bursting! Its past time for the amaryllis, they are in seed mode now.

I came outside to sit on the patio and read, but was assaulted by the loud Spanish music from the neighbors'. Ugh! Its not that the music is Spanish, its that it is loud and incessant! I forgot about their crawfish boil on Good Friday. It happens like clockwork that they throw a loud raucous party on holidays that last well into the late nighttime hours. A shame that some people have no idea how crass and insensitive it is.

Here is my rant!

Why, when homes are relative close to each other, do some people feel the need to encroach on the tranquility of an otherwise beautiful day/afternoon/night?

It wouldn't be an issue, except that this particular neighbor has been doing this for years. They've been asked kindly to turn down the noise and the police have been called in the past, as well. All to no avail. Now, I wish I had superpowers, I'd throw an electromagnetic pulse and knock out their power or at least practice some kind of mind control!

I sit here writing this as my foot taps to the damned catchy mariachi beat! Oh!gawd! They've broken out the karaoke machine!!! Time to surrender my not so idyllic seat on my patio.

Backyard Farm

The Herb Garden

Tiny Farm

potatoes and tomatoes

romaine lettuce, yellow squash, tomatoes

muscadine grapes

bell peppers - yellow/red/green/purple

mirliton

kumquat

blood orange

These pictures are just some of our "produce". Its a Zen-like moment when you can get out in the warm weather and tend the garden, put on the headphones and jam to '60 & '70's music, looking like a complete ass.

I'll soon be able to spend more time with leisurely pursuits after I retire.

and having the girls quietly eyeball me as I walk around the yard, is giving me an idea for a horror novel, "Poultrygeist" - oh, wait, somebody already did that! How about "The Roost"? Nope. That was done too. I've got it! "The Stepford Hens " -

Gotta love hens.

The first egg!

Chicken Scratch and other random ideas

Today I created my first Blog!  My son joked that it should be a "brog" after the sound our chickens make!  So excited to share my random musings with the world.

Hens: Otherwise known as the girls. We have 5 chickens. Hens. No boys, no fertile eggs! No cock-a doodle-doo as an ersatz alarm clock in the wee hours of the morning either! They are 2 New Hampshire Reds - Pepper and Nugget, 2 Ameraucana Pullets - Hen Solo, AKA Henny and Colonel Sanders, AKA Sandy (in the interest of not creating a sexist environment, she's got the gender neutral name) and lastly there's Hazel the Black Australorps. They certainly have a "hen" hierarchy. Nugget has arisen to the "head chick".  There is certainly something to be said about pecking order. Nugget was the first to lay and she is usually the first out of the coop most days. We love watching the girls peck around the yard.