March 20th

It's the first day of spring!

Actually it's the vernal equinox.

Vernal means spring in Latin and

equinox means "equal night" in Latin.

Equi = equal

nox = night

All that really means is, the length

of the day and night are the same.

So, from here till the autumn equinox

the days will get longer.

Bring it on!

I'm ready for a change!

**************************

We lost many of our plants to the freezes

last month, but we've got veggie seedlings

ready to plant.

Then there's the flowers!

This is Stargazer Lilies

that I thought had died in the freeze.

The entire pot had frozen water

for 2 days. 

Yay! They're making a comeback!

Amaryllis buds.

I counted 13!

More Amaryllis buds.

There's about 7 in this pot.

Last week I cut all the damaged leaves

from Mother Aloe and look!

She was so grateful, she decided to bloom!

Yes, this is a weed.

It's name is Daisy Fleabane.

(Sounds like a Star Wars character!)

It's a literal bee restaurant.

The bees, butterfly's and some birds love them.

Here's a side note...

Indigenous Americans used this plant

to cure infections.

It's a natural antimicrobial, antioxidant and diuretic.

They chewed or macerated the root to apply 

to a cut or to broken skin.

The flowers when boiled and used in a tea,

were used to break up 

mucus in the lungs,

and they rubbed the plant on their skin 

and their animals to ward off..

you guessed it,

fleas!

The more you know....

😀

Plus...

It's so cute!

******************

The herb garden is coming back too.

There's parsley, oregano, mint, stevia and thyme.

This is a few of the "replacement" herbs

and some veggies we are ready to plant.

Beets.

Broccoli variety.

Yellow onion.

Celery.

Artichoke.

Cilantro.

Broccoli.

Broccoli. 

The girls LOVE the leaves!

If we don't fence the plant in,

they'll eat the entire plant.

Mustard Greens.

We only grow that for the girls.

It's full of vitamins and

helps with their egg production.

My entourage.

Underfoot!

***********************

Speaking of egg production,

As you can see,

the girls lay colorful and tasty eggs.

Why are chicken eggs different colors or speckled?

Good question...

🐓

Chicken 101

Inside the hen,

all eggshells start out white.

Ok, we know that, right?

Well, it's a bit more complicated...

Toward the end of egg production,

pigments are secreted from the cells

inside the hen's uterus, that add color.

Hens that lay all white eggs

lack the production of these pigments.

So,

white eggs are white all the way through.

Brown and tan eggshells are white on the inside,

but

blue or green eggs are blue or green on the inside too.

Why?

Because the blue and green egg laying hens

secrete the pigments to color the shells

early in the egg production cycle,

so the color goes all the way through,

whereas, the brown and tan egg layers

secrete it later and the inside remains white.

That accounts for the speckled eggs too.

During the egg shell production,

the pigment process is disturbed in some way

and extra calcium and pigment is deposited

on the surface of the shell.

It usually makes the shell stronger.

It is all normal in egg production.

Another FYI.

I'm full of them today.

😂😆

**********************

P.S.

The CEO and I have completed our Covid Vaccines!

Yay!