With Silver Bells and Cockleshells

...and pretty maids all in a row...

Well, that's not how my garden grows.  Unfortunately. (Mary, Mary Quite Contrary)

The grass and weeds have taken over!  And the rain, we've had so much that my garden has been a swamp, though it is finally draining.  My poor tomato and eggplants have yellow leaves, they've had so. much. water.

Chris plowed up a big section of the backyard with his tractor, and we "installed" (one held, while the other used a rubber mallet to tap into the ground) a short picket fence to keep the chickens and dog out (more on this later).  We had it straight, pickets fairly the same height, and pretty square.

Not super pretty, because it isn't super straight (maybe next year), but functional.

And then it rained a lot, and there might be a wet weather spring there near the garden (because the ducks have a swimming lane there occasionally)...

and now the pickets look like teeth with newly installed braces.  They've followed the slope of the yard and are no longer a pretty straight line but at least they're spaced evenly!  I corrected the height as much as I could, it's still pretty wavy, and then we covered the entire garden spot with several bales of straw to keep the weeds out and future moisture in.  I planted seeds from Baker Creek, bought some plants from Chicken Holler (a local heirloomy kind of place), and caved and bought more seeds from Lowe's and Walmart, even though they weren't heirloom, organic, etc.

We planted tomatoes, eggplant, okra, yellow squash, cucumbers, zucchini, Bok Choy, Rainbow Swiss Chard, bell peppers, beets, carrots, and all the herbs you can possibly think of, a grape vine the chickens had decimated elsewhere, and some lavender.  Then we left for vacation.  And came home to WEEDS!

Overgrown mess.

Not enough straw to keep anything suppressed, but it definitely holds in the moisture!  Many seeds did not come up, except the Baker Creek seeds, which most all germinated.  The plants were all still there, but so was an unexpected amount of grass!  I've replanted most seeds, but looks like I may just have to buy the herb plants.  I'm not having any luck with them.

As for the grass, it's good old fashioned weed pulling time.  My fingers and nails are stained brown, despite scrubbing and soaking (who wears gloves, you can't tell what you're grabbing).  But weed pulling, oh my goodness, it is so satisfying.

Frustration at work?  Chop those weeds with the hoe before pulling.

Lots of words hurled through the air about Minecraft and PS4 games?  Enjoy the solitude of pulling weeds in the heat (nobody wants to be outside then).

Need some time just to think and organize your brain?  Maybe you just want to talk to Jesus, weeding is the perfect time.

They may come find you, but they won't stay long, because weeding as a speculator sport?  BORING.

Hallelujah.

Today, a ray of hope came in the form of sunshine yellow squash tucked sweetly underneath beautiful bright green leaves.

 Postage scales are legit, right?  Haha

We collected two pounds, nine ounces of squash (plus two okra).  I want to weigh each gathering, I'm so curious how many pounds of healthy, delicious food we can raise.

We have a multitude of green tomatoes, and it looks like the beets and maybe Bok Choy are  going to make it.  Everything else is a bit chancy, though the okra is doing almost as well as the squash, just not producing much yet.  There is nothing like two pounds and nine ounces to motivate someone to get back out and weed more...and replace the herbs with plants and not seed.

We NEED fresh marjoram.  Need it!

As for the picket fence, it is only 24 inches in height (found at Lowe's), before being tapped into the ground.  And guess what?  It works like a charm!

The chickens will not cross it.  It's pointy, and they will not fly over something that they cannot roost on first.  Pointy equals danger and scary.  Why keep chickens out?  They are walking, hopping, scratching, pecking garden desecrators.  If they don't eat it, they will uproot it while scratching, and then eat it or it's roots.  Or both.  They will eat the little fertilizer balls that come with the plant, then dig it's roots out.  They will strip a beautiful plant of it's leaves, leaving it standing there bare and wondering.

Who me?  Yes, definitely you.

And the dog?  He's a Collie, and unlike Lassie, he just does not jump.  Ever.  Nor dig.  He will not dig or purposely get wet or dirty for anything.  City Slicker, for sure.  Dumpy the cat is a different story, and I've found a couple of "buried treasures" but he does keep the bunnies out.

We've had raised beds, but not a real garden since our very first house, when we raised way more tomatoes than we could even give away.  We've had quite a few fails and learning lessons, I'm ready for some success!  Our takeaways from this experiment have been...

1.  Picket fencing (even short!) works great for keeping chickens and ducks out (and OUR dog, but maybe not anyone else's).
2.  Straw works great as a topper to keep moisture in.  And maybe weeds out, just make sure you cover the garden with a very thick layer.
3.  Better quality seeds and plants do better.  You will save money in the long run to buy the better seeds.  Save yourself some work and frustration.

Do you have a garden?  Do tell, I'd love to hear your tips and advice!

Lord Willing and the Creek Don't Rise...

"I'll be there, Lord willing and the creek don't rise", my grandmother, MeMe, would often reply when invited to something.  I never really thought of it in a literal sense, until now.  She wasn't kidding,  the creek did rise, and we were stuck!

It started raining Saturday evening, storming through the night.  We left for church Sunday morning with just a slight drizzle.  As we headed down the drive, we discovered it had rained more than we thought!  Runoff from the night tumbled down ditches, made little rivers across our yard, and cut streams into the gravel road heading down the hill.   Our yard had a mini pond next to our real pond, where the ducks promptly started swimming (they refuse to swim in the real pond, but that is another story).

On the road out, the little bridge over the creek was completely covered.  We turned around and went the other way, the long way, but had to turn around as that road had water flowing over it as well.  Cars ahead of us were not crossing, though some were considering it before turning around.  With two future drivers in the backseat, we made a point to emphasize "turn around, don't drown", and did just that.

We went back home, got cozy, and enjoyed the novelty of being stranded.  We missed church and a birthday party, but spent a relaxing morning drinking coffee and eating lunch on the porch, watching it rain.  We kept up with road conditions and photos of area flooding with the county sheriff's department Facebook page.  Our road had officially closed, and then our water went out!  A main line in the Illinois River had partly washed away.

When the rain let up, we went for a hike to see the small wet weather waterfall in the woods that we could hear from our house.

I'm always amazed at how water, though changeable and fluid itself can etch rocks and change landscapes.  Always reminds me of that concept, "small gains over time"...

When the rain had completely stopped for awhile (and we had a nap), we ventured out.  The flood water had receded as quickly as it had come, and the road was open again.  How lucky are we to live on hills, where we really only have trouble with the occasional flash floods overwhelming drainage systems.  We've thought a lot over the past few days about those with true flooding and loss of life and property.  I cannot imagine.

Here we are Wednesday, the water has been on and off all week as they make repairs.  We're on a boil order, but at least we know we can bathe and flush the toilet as needed (that made me feel a little crazy!).  I always think back to the old days, before people had running water, how hard just bathing and basic sanitation must have been.  It certainly makes one appreciate modern conveniences!

Make Room for Ducklings

Back in March, we bought a dozen ducklings at Tractor Supply.  They keep all ducklings in one metal tank, all varieties, unsexed, there's no way to tell what you're getting.  After last year's chick catastrophe, that was ok with us.  You get what you get, even when you order specifics.  At least this way, we would only get 12, not the 52 (!) from the hatchery (you can read about that here).  We picked out six light colored and six dark - three of the dark were a little stripey and three were completely black.  They're almost grown now, just a few weeks later, and we still don't know what they are!

We learned with chicks that a wading pool will only confine even tiny birds for a short time.  The perfect place this time seemed to be the unused (and deep) jacuzzi tub in the downstairs bathroom.  Contained, waterproof and easy to clean, it even had a handle to clamp the heat light on.  Everything we had read had stressed how wet and messy they are.  We had no idea!

It seems most baby anythings are cute, but ducklings really take the cake.  They waddle around peeping like little squeaky toys - rubber duckies are spot on.  Their sweet fuzzy heads and tiny bills just beg for cuddling and their delicate little flippery feet feel like nothing else I can describe.  They make little smacking noises when they drink, and their bills move so quickly that they vibrate against the feeder and water bowl.  We couldn't believe how cute they were!  

We also couldn't believe that they were so afraid of us!  Or that they were so messy and stink so bad!  And nothing we read prepared us for how WET they got everything.  They shrieked and ran anytime we got near.  We picked them up to hold, hoping handling them would help tame and build trust and they really got loud.  And their delicate little flippers?  They had the sharpest little claws!  

Cuddly, they are not.  And smell, oh my goodness, the smell!  The tub had to be cleaned daily, with all new pine shavings.  They played in the water, spilled their water, spilled their food, pooped everywhere, and splattered and played in anything even remotely damp (including, yes, you guessed it).  Baby chicks and ducklings are two very different creatures.  I think "can't we send them back?" popped into more than one of our heads, more than once.

The first time I cleaned the tub, I put the babies in the shower with a dish of water to play in, thinking the barrier would contain them.  It did not.  There were tiny, wet ducks ALL over the bathroom, scrambling to escape me, shrieking loudly and POOPING everywhere!  The shrieking was enough for me, but the pooping!  Oh, the pooping.  And they were soaked to the skin from the water they played in.  Getting them dry and under the heat lamp was a little difficult (and definitely an urgent matter) when the tub still wasn't cleaned out.  Something had to change next time!

The next time, we took the babies upstairs in a laundry basket for a cleanup in the that bathtub.  They were a mess, with splatters of wet food and goodness knows what else all over them.  We ran a few inches of warm water and upturned a casserole dish in the middle so they could rest if needed.  Seeing the tiny little ducklings, only a couple days old, take to the water and actually swim...maybe they weren't so bad after all!  

They zipped under the water, popping up in different places, paddled around lazily, dunked their heads, bathed, and made little blowing noises underwater.  And while they quickly turned the water green, we realized that maybe we just needed to adjust our expectations.  They really were amazing little creatures.  Recently hatched, never knew their mama, yet instinct told them how to do what they were born to do.  It made me think about us more "complex" creatures, how we start out with parents to guide us and schools to teach us, and still reach adulthood searching for our purpose.

In a matter of two weeks, they had quickly doubled their size and were too crowded in the jacuzzi.  They had also become too heavy and big to all be carted upstairs in a basket for the daily bathtub swim while their tub was being cleaned.  With the weather warming, they would soon be able to coop up with the chickens.  In the short lived meantime, they moved to a metal trough in the garage.  The stink was out of the house! 

Now fully feathered, the duckies (silly to call them ducklings, but not quite grown enough to be ducks) sleep in the coop with the chickens at night, graze the backyard during the day and go for swims at the pond when we're home.  They're still unsure about us, but will eat from our hands if hungry and begrudgingly allow us to help them up the ramp into the coop at bedtime.  They are a little hysterical at bedtime, just wanting a place to sleep, and get really excited about their food in the mornings.  They remind me of toddlers in so many ways, wanting to do it all themselves, but not really able to yet.  And while they are not the cuddly pets we expected, they are a welcome addition to the pond, doing what they are made to do.  

Random Thoughts & Happenings of the Week

Sunday began the week with one kid starting to feel bad on the way home from church, setting the stage for the rest of the week.  And while no one else in our family has caught it, I'm pretty sure it's the flu.  We are not alone in this though, as one of his close friends has the same symptoms and their school had 180 out sick yesterday.  Tamiflu's side effects scare me, so we've stayed home and treated it the old fashioned way with plenty of fluids, tv watching, napping and kept the fever under control with ibuprofen and Tylenol.  Our bed seems to be the place for napping (the cats agree!).

We've all been taking elderberry and just in case, I've tried to slip in some apple cider vinegar any chance I get.  If someone told me doing headstands would prevent/stop/heal it, I would do that at this point.  Sickness makes me feel a little crazy.  Especially when it's the kids.  I made the kids "homemade orange soda", they loved it.  Sprite, a splash of Ginger Honey Sipping Cider (ACV), a squeeze of orange, and a slice for garnish...they had no idea it was sort of healthy.  Or had ACV in it!  I found the Vermont Village ACV at Walmart Neighborhood Market.

It's rained quite a bit, which meant our driveway turned to peanut butter (or so it felt).  We had gravel delivered and poured and it was an instant transformation.  Who knew gravel could bring such joy?

The roof we'd been waiting on since the storm before Christmas is finally underway, and the very same day we got the beautiful driveway, the delivery truck sent it into utter ruin.  Boo.  At least they've promised to fix it once the roofing job is complete.

On the bright side, our damaged, green shingled roof is now gone and a beautiful new metal one is being installed.  The pitter-patter of little feet (bumps, bangs and house-shaking thumps) was music to our ears.  Today anyways.

Our neighbors lost another guinea (something keeps raiding their coop), leaving them with Jenny, the last lonely guinea and two chickens, Henny and Brewster.  Three must be a crowd, so she's left the lovebirds to join our rowdy crowd, cooping herself along with them.  Don't worry, the neighbors gave her permission to stay over.

 One of these is not like the other...in both the above and below pics!

 Someone keeps laying double yolks.

Whew, excuse me, that is a red, dry, wrinkled hand!  

And just like that, the week is almost over.  As I write this, it turned Friday!  Here's hoping you and yours have a great weekend and stay healthy!  Come on Spring! 

Pie Crust Pop Tarts

Today's dreary weather and a ball of leftover pie crust waiting in the fridge just begged for making pie crust pop tarts.  Better Homes and Gardens made incredibly adorable ones, but we went for quick and cute. 

I use Martha Stewart's pie crust recipe from her aqua cookbook, you can find it here.  It's quick, easy and always perfectly flakey.  It makes crust for a double crust pie, so we had some left from a quiche over the weekend.

My willing helper cut them into heart shapes, then we spooned strawberry "spreadable fruit" onto centers.  Just like in pottery class at school, dampen the edges of the tops and bottoms with water, place together and use a fork to press sealed.  We cooked them at 350F for 10 or so minutes until they started turning golden on the edges. 

Of course, while you wait, it's a prefect time to bring in a chicken for a snuggle and dry her off.  Just make sure to wash your hands afterwards...

And voila!  Quick, tasty, and not too too sweet.

Friday Night Pizza

When the kids were really little, we started making individual pizzas at home on Friday nights.  Each "decorated" their own to their liking and it killed several birds with one stone...picky eaters, wait times at restaurants with two hungry littles, early bedtimes, and it just feels special. 

I found an easy recipe and it evolved as time went on.  Now I have it memorized (wonder how many pizza nights it's been!).  This makes 4 individual pizzas. 

One cup of warm water (see yeast instructions for exact temp, I just make mine warm to touch but not hot)
2 1/4 tsp Fleischmann's Yeast
Little bit of sugar to help yeast rise

Olive oil (probably about 4 tablespoons)
2 cups flour, plus extra for rolling (you may need to add a little to the dough when mixing, depending on how sticky it is)
1 tsp salt
Herbs or spices if desired

I preheat my oven to 450, it gives the bottoms of the pizza a nice crispness and the cheese on top a nice browning.  You can set yours lower, if you'd rather (it takes longer, but pizza might rise more).

Mix yeast and sugar into measuring cup with the water while nice and warm and let sit until it rises and looks foamy.  I pour the olive oil in my stand mixer bowl first, to prevent dough from sticking.  With the dough hook (you can do this in a big bowl by hand also, if you'd rather) inserted in the mixer, add all of the dry ingredients, gradually adding the yeast water and mix, adding enough flour so that dough looks less sticky and forms more of a ball.  Remove the dough hook, cover the bowl of dough with a clean towel and sit in a warm spot to rise.  You can skip this step, if you're in a rush.  It will still rise in the oven, just not so much. 
When dough has doubled in size (or when you absolutely just need to get it done), give it a quick knead on your floured counter top and cut it into four individual pieces.  Roll out each pizza and give it a little stretch as you're rolling it out to help with texture, makes it a little chewier and less bread-like.  I like place the individual pizza doughs on a sheet of parchment paper on a large cookie sheet to prevent sticking (and less mess to clean up after baking). 

Top as you wish and bake!  I like to keep an eye on mine, the length of baking time varies wildly depending on the toppings.  Veggies take longer, pepperoni and cheese with no sauce cook really fast.  Enjoy!