Chickens and gardens and yogurt, oh my!
It's shaping up to be a farmgirl week! Tammy moved her nest, it is now under the rosebush by the gate to the dog run. This new location makes keeping the rose watered; we don't want to encourage the hen to move her nest yet again. It's like an Easter egg hunt every few months around here!
We plan on bringing up the new chicks to lay their eggs in a coop. They still spend the night and are fed in the wire cage they've been calling home, but this weekend hubby and I will be building a proper small coop, with perches and nestboxes. The little girls will not be allowed free roam of the back yard like Tammy, even when they are grown. Tammy roosts on a cinder block under a tree at the base of the house; that's been her "coop" for the last several years. She chose the location herself; it's not the most ideal spot in my opinion, but we don't want to upset her little chicken applecart, so we let her stay there. But the new girls... they will only be fed in the coop so it becomes THEIR roost, and we will be able to lock them in if necessary (like if someone needs to get into the back yard, or if we're facing really bad weather.) They will be allowed to roam the back yard during the day though. I'm hoping that we'll be able to coax Tammy into the coop as well.
Dad's garden up at Mom's house is doing well. I've harvested a few lbs of green beans from the row of about 10 plants and a couple zucchinis. The Heatwave tomatoes are FINALLY starting to turn color; they set the first fruit in March! I really love these plants; they are determinate (bushy) with really deep green, dense foliage that promises to keep the nice, big tomatoes protected from the sun. We should get a few lbs of tomatoes from each of the six plants; unfortunately it looks like they'll all ripen around the same time.
The Early Girl tomatoes are starting to grow after several weeks of just sitting there. A few have set some fruit; I need to tie them to the stakes now; they're still standing on their own, but gravity is starting to pull at the vines. We planted one yellow pear cherry-type tomato plant near the block wall. It's setting fruit, but the new growth doesn't look too happy. I think it's getting too much lime from the wall, which is only a few years old.
The zucchini is producing, but it loses more fruit than it produces. We currently have only one plant producing; it was transplanted in Feb/Mar, while the others where directly seeded last month. A few years ago I planted 3 transplants and had more zucchini than I knew what to do with. Last year's zucchini up at Dad's garden didn't do well either, so I don't know if it's maybe the soil.
The pickling cucumbers are starting to grow, I even saw a few little cukes. I want to make both vinegar-based pickles and fermented pickles, so I hope we have a bumper crop.
The only "total bust" we have are the bell peppers. They have barely grown since being planted last month, and they don't look happy. The only reason I don't take them out is that they're on the same drip system as the cucumbers, so they aren't taking much effort to just keep there.
On one last note... I tried making cottage cheese from kefir and a gallon of non-fat milk yesterday. Note to self; one gallon of milk takes a LOT more than one cup of kefir! I DID get a bit of curds, and they tasted pretty good, but I ended up heating the milk up to 180 deg. to kill off the kefir, then made a bunch of non-fat yogurt. I usually don't consume non-fat dairy, so if it tastes gross or cooked (I usually don't heat milk for yogurt past 150) I'll just use it in the dog's dinner.
We plan on bringing up the new chicks to lay their eggs in a coop. They still spend the night and are fed in the wire cage they've been calling home, but this weekend hubby and I will be building a proper small coop, with perches and nestboxes. The little girls will not be allowed free roam of the back yard like Tammy, even when they are grown. Tammy roosts on a cinder block under a tree at the base of the house; that's been her "coop" for the last several years. She chose the location herself; it's not the most ideal spot in my opinion, but we don't want to upset her little chicken applecart, so we let her stay there. But the new girls... they will only be fed in the coop so it becomes THEIR roost, and we will be able to lock them in if necessary (like if someone needs to get into the back yard, or if we're facing really bad weather.) They will be allowed to roam the back yard during the day though. I'm hoping that we'll be able to coax Tammy into the coop as well.
Dad's garden up at Mom's house is doing well. I've harvested a few lbs of green beans from the row of about 10 plants and a couple zucchinis. The Heatwave tomatoes are FINALLY starting to turn color; they set the first fruit in March! I really love these plants; they are determinate (bushy) with really deep green, dense foliage that promises to keep the nice, big tomatoes protected from the sun. We should get a few lbs of tomatoes from each of the six plants; unfortunately it looks like they'll all ripen around the same time.
The Early Girl tomatoes are starting to grow after several weeks of just sitting there. A few have set some fruit; I need to tie them to the stakes now; they're still standing on their own, but gravity is starting to pull at the vines. We planted one yellow pear cherry-type tomato plant near the block wall. It's setting fruit, but the new growth doesn't look too happy. I think it's getting too much lime from the wall, which is only a few years old.
The zucchini is producing, but it loses more fruit than it produces. We currently have only one plant producing; it was transplanted in Feb/Mar, while the others where directly seeded last month. A few years ago I planted 3 transplants and had more zucchini than I knew what to do with. Last year's zucchini up at Dad's garden didn't do well either, so I don't know if it's maybe the soil.
The pickling cucumbers are starting to grow, I even saw a few little cukes. I want to make both vinegar-based pickles and fermented pickles, so I hope we have a bumper crop.
The only "total bust" we have are the bell peppers. They have barely grown since being planted last month, and they don't look happy. The only reason I don't take them out is that they're on the same drip system as the cucumbers, so they aren't taking much effort to just keep there.
On one last note... I tried making cottage cheese from kefir and a gallon of non-fat milk yesterday. Note to self; one gallon of milk takes a LOT more than one cup of kefir! I DID get a bit of curds, and they tasted pretty good, but I ended up heating the milk up to 180 deg. to kill off the kefir, then made a bunch of non-fat yogurt. I usually don't consume non-fat dairy, so if it tastes gross or cooked (I usually don't heat milk for yogurt past 150) I'll just use it in the dog's dinner.
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