Nings Chickens

These are 3 of Ning's 4 hens. See earlier entrys for them as baby chicks. They are laying 3 to 4 eggs daily. One of the Rhode Island Reds is the 'star' chicken, largest eggs and most reliable, the other Rhode Island Red is the developmentally challenged hen, laying fragile eggs that almost never make it to the kitchen. The others (I dont know their variety) are in between.

So far, they are keeping up with us, although we did have to makde a plateful of deviled eggs so that we didnt waste any.

They eat a lot of the kitchen scraps that otherwise would go to the compost pile. They actually still do, since once they go through the chicken the result heads to the compost.

The hen house was built from scraps of 2X4, parts pulled out of the old bathroom (the flooring is former cabinet), and one sheet of outdoor grade siding. It opens from the top for easy egg collection. We haven't made Winter plans yet, may need to insulate their roosting house (purchased separately) or build something new.

Here are my thoughts on why home yard chickens are environmentally friendly:
* They can be fed kitchen scraps and food that is owtherwise wasted, and they convert it into food for us (eggs) or the garden (chicken poop). Of course, they do get regualr chicken feed and oyster shells for egg strength.
* Growing them at home is cleaner than chicken factory farms, no massive waste.
* Growing them at home connects the gardener to their source of food, creating a deeper connection to nature and where we fit into our food chain.
* They eat bugs and slugs, converting them into food.
* These chickes are housed in an area that I could never rid of bishop weed. They seem to have eradicated it. They are good at killing plant life under foot, when needed (and even when not needed, but I'm listing the positives here).

Here is a question: if they eat oyster shells, and the chicken converts them into the eggshell, does that make eggs seafood?

After a hiatus

It's been a difficult summer. Work hours are long and the work is the most intense ever. Coming home, I'm often too exhausted to do more than water 'essentials' about every other night on hot days, less often if cooler. No time for more significant garden projects. I have also tried to get the bathroom project finished, but only about 1 day every other weekend.

What has happened in the garden?

1. Most of the plants continue to survive. The grapes (Venus here) are producing like crazy now. I've about finished off Interlaken and Venus, and Price is done. Price didnt have many anyway, but they are the most 'grapy', most flavorful and largest. They do have seeds, but I think I even like that.

2. Of course, the hummingbirds dont take much attention, and they have been the big treat of the summer. I read that they eat the nectar for energy, but get all of their protein from insects. No wonder this yard is doing so well wtihout insecticides.

3. Tomatoes are producing well now. I eat at least one large tomato daily, sometimes more. Principe Borghese makes for great 'tomato raisons' - slice in have and leave in the dehydrator for about 24 hours.

4. Figs have not done much yet. The containerized figs are barely limping by. Vancouver / Brunswick has lots of large figs and Petite Negri has many many small ones. Hardy Chicage has a few, I ate one yesterday - these are small, but so is the tree. next year?

5. Raspberries are bearing well. I think I do like the Fallgold better, and my just ust that one next year.

6. Roses are surviving, not much disease, and most bloom a little all summer. Nothing dramatic.

7. Brugmansia has had a few flowers but not as much as last year. Maybe the container is too small. It gets daily waterings.

8. Ning's Changchun beans actually did quite well. we are still getting more than we can eat.

9. Garlic did very well. It's almost time to plant again.

10. Cacti did well this year. A few blossoms as noted earlier. Most have grown guite a lot.

All for now. I dont know how to move back closer to work/life balance (I've NEVER been in balance) but seriously need to strive for it, lose the 20 "stress pounds" that piled on, and figure out how to find time and energy to bike again. Can I do it?

Bathroom Project

A few rows remaining for the Subway tile, and a couple of details, then the tile work is done. The color in the top photo is the closest to reality. That 'couple of details' - such as the window, will take a lot of tile cutting, so not quite done, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. No grout on these wall yet, obviously, since the tile work isn't finished.
The sink and shower wall is getting grouted first so that I can have the plumbers come in and hook up the faucets. The other walls can be done afterwards. I will feel muich better when the sink is installed.

Initially, I thought the tile was too uneven, both the tiles and my application, but with the grout in place I'm feeling better about it. These tiles are supposed to have a 'hand made' look, so are have uneven and wavy edges, which makes them difficult to line up. The nice part is that the final product LOOKS hand made, and the play of color variation in the tiled wall makes it more interesting compared to 'perfect' tiles.

veggies

At this time I've barely had time to keep them watered. Still, with large amounts of organic matter added to the soil over the past several years, and a compost mulch, they are producing pretty well. Lots of tomatoes now, plus zucchinis, cucumbers, some cayenne and hungarian peppers. Also, I've been eating about 1/2 pound of grapes daily for the past week, and they are just starting to ripen. First was Interlaken, quickly followed by Venus and Price. Price has the largest grapes, with a 'grapey' flavor, and I don't mind the seeds. Interlaken is the sweetest, but being seedless they are smaller than Price. Venus is interesting - I can't decide how much I like them, but they are not fully sweet yet and they are bigger than Interlaken. Canadice hasn't started to ripen yet. Looking forward to them.

Notocactus

Honey Babe Peaches, Agapanthus.Tomato patch

It's difficult to see tomatoes in this photo. The apple tree is Liberty. The grass is dormant, otherwise known as neglected.

Agapanthus manages to get by despite neglect.

Four peaches this year on Honey Babe. Curse of the peach leaf curl. Still, the tree recovered nicely, and the peaches were VERY sweet, peachy, and juicy.

Tiny Tim has essentially no flavor. Not worth the effort, even though it's early and grows nicely in containers.
Principe is good. Not as sweet as sweet 100, but meaty, tender, and good tomato flavor.
Lemon Boy, My favorite, almost ripe.

Grapes

The first variety to sweeten this year is Interlaken. VERY 'grapey' flavor, much better than those grocery store grapes!

Update

No photos today.

Weekend in Quincy IL. Things look stable there.

Interesting - growing up there, everyone had a backyard garden. I didn't see any this time.

Back in vancouver, lots of beans on Ning's Chinese Bean vines. There have been several batches to eat.

Grapes are "almost" there. Sour but starting to sweeten up.

Roses are blooming nicely.

Another bud on the Epiphyllum.

There have been 3 breba figs plus one main crop fig on the petite negri. None yet on the others.
Too much going on otherwise. I hope that I can weed and prune a little this weekend.

Another Lily. Garden log.

Here is another lily. I didn't have a chance yet to photograph the Casa Blanca in the back yard - clearly one of the finest. Huge white flowers, highly fragrant. This one has it's charms. No-name however.

Summer pruned the aprium. Last week I summer pruned Ning's short cherry trees. In each case, I removes all but 6" to 1ft of new growth on all branches. In many cases (especially the cherries) I removed more than 2 feet of new growth. I hope that I didnt remove next year's crop - I dont think so, the flowers seem to come from the first few inches of new stem.

Also pruned the new grown on trunk and lower branches of large flowering cherry. These short branches I have been pruning back to spurs each summer. They nbloom nicely, and look like pompoms stuck onto the sides of the old tree.

First 3 tomatoes today. One tiny tim, 2 sweet 100. The sweet 100s are definitely better tasting.

So far, about 5 cucumbers. Another one today.

Two crops of Ning's beans so far. First crop 2 weeks ago, second last weekend.

Tomorrow or wednesday: BREBA FIGS from petite negri. There are only 3. They are at the hang-mans noose stage, but no tears of the condemn or robes of the penitent. Better enjoy them. A few dozen maion crop, on the trees combined. Something to look forward to this fall.

Hummingbirds have been amazing this year. At least 4 different birds, maybe more. They like the crocosmia the best, the feeder second. They couldn't figure out the brugmansia.

ALl of the prunings have been chopped up for mulch, and are mosly on a side border. It's keeping it nice and clean, in a woodsy way.