Rye Rye Rye

Remember the buffalo grass? Native seed my ass.

I tell you what, it may have worked out if this spring in Austin wasn't Death Valley Apocalyptic hot. But it didn't. After this summer, I had a backyard full of weeds and no buffalo grass mix. It was just too hot to germinate. No worries though, my nickname should be "second chance Kelly." I'm much better the second time round. Exhibit A: my small little harvest today, which is so much more than I grew this past spring when there was not a drought. 

Anyway, I am going to try again this spring. Not with buffalo, but with something else(not quite sure what). I got rid of all the weeds again and decided that I'm done with the mud pit we call our backyard. So, I threw down a cover crop for the winter and I can't believe IT WORKED! With a few days of rain, we have a backyard full of annual rye grass. It will stay all winter and die of in the spring when the temps warm up just in time for spring grass planting.  Even better, the girls will feel like they are in Heaven when I let them out to free range in the rye area in the spring. 

Exhibit B: I finally did something the first time around successfully. 

These Balls Make Me Smile

Stop it. 


Ok no really though, I'm still a little unmotivated. But my 70 year old neighbor is not apparently.  He sports these ginormous balls right in his front yard. They are all different sizes but the biggest one could probably barely fit in your living room. BIG.


For awhile they were clear, for awhile they were blue(yeah, I know), and tonight as I drove home they were a flashing rainbow. They literally put an instant smile on my face. Even better is when I wake up in the a.m. and they all rolled in the street after a windy night and I have to dodge them in my car like an obstacle course. 


Keeping Austin Weird...........one ball at a time. 


For your viewing pleasure:

BLAH

Been gone awhile.

I went to Miami a couple a weeks ago. Claire had a conference for work and hell, I needed to escape the heat so, I went. I'm really really good at tagging along on business trips and I am even better at sitting on the beach and doing nothing. Seriously, if there was such a thing as professional beach sitter I would be one of the best. There is nothing better to me than getting up early, grabbing a cup of coffee and heading out to the beach to read, swim, nap, and beautiful people watch. I could literally sit there all night, except, as always, the nice gentlemen who rent the beach chairs have to pry my sun burnt, salt laden body off the chairs at sundown. Why they start taking the chairs back and putting them away at 6:00 is beyond me. Anyway, a few days on the water makes me wonder why we chose to live in drought ridden, hotter than hell Austin, and not somewhere closer to the beach. Sigh.

Back on the mainland, I'm finding myself uninspired, unmotivated, and quite frankly LAZY. I have been battling a nasty virus that knocked me down for a few days and I'm sure that's part of it, but I just can't seem to get any umph in my step lately. Hence, the lack of posts. The list of things that need to get done here at Uprooted Bamboo is never ending and a direct correlation exists between my lack of pep and the amount of things being marked off as completed. I'm sure with the cooler weather finally coming in I will regain some momentum and start getting some stuff done. I guess it's good to take a step back, breathe, and re-evaluate the backyard. It's a huge blank canvas and while exciting to have such a big piece of property, it sometimes is a bit overwhelming. Which is where I find myself now.

The girls are doing well.  Bridget and Monica(the little ones) have been incorporated into the flock. They aren't hugging and high-fiving the big girls yet, but with a little more time they will all work it out and get along.

The garden, shockingly, is doing well. I have cucumbers, tomatoes(yay!), banana peppers, green peppers, green beans, serrano's, and jalapenos all getting ready to be harvested. I need to get some lettuce and strawberries in this month and in the next few weeks start digging my holes for the bare root fruit trees going in mid winter. And given Austin's hard, dry, clay soil that may take me awhile.

Good stuff........ lets just keep adding to the list.

Solar Power Ya'll

With fall approaching, the days are getting shorter and I have run into a slight problem. I don't get back from rotting in the box until 7:45. This was no problem in the summer. I would let the girls out in the a.m. and they would go in by themselves at sundown. All I had to do was lock them up when they all made it to the roost, usually around 9:00 pm.  Now, its getting dark way too early, and waiting to close the coop when I come home late is way too dangerous in regards to urban wildlife. The raccoons and opossums would jump at the chance I'm sure to take a taste of the girls. 

I have been having Claire take care of this issue for the past week, but already I can see she is getting somewhat annoyed. The other day she called and said the girls were staring at her and wouldn't go in when she went to lock them up. It was only 630 'ish, the light was still out, and I'm sure they were like, "uh uh. Who does this girl think she is making us go in early." 

I needed a solution stat.

So, I ordered a door. An automatic door. What what. And since I was tired of the three extension cords running to the coop all trashy like, I decided to go solar. Yeah that's right an off the grid chicken coop. Every morning, it opens at sunrise to let the girls into their run and at sundown it closes once all the girls are safe and sound in the coop. It does have an automatic safety mechanism where it will open again for one minute and then shut in case anyone didn't make it on time. I installed it today so tonight and tomorrow is the big test. Unfortunately/Fortunately it has been raining the past two days and I'm worried that the battery may not have enough juice in it since it has been cloudy. Hopefully, we have no issues with this. 

Door with motor and battery installed

Barb, all sassy, trying it out

Solar panel 

In other news, the garden is somewhat kicking ass. 

Crooked Neck zucchini 

Can You see the little butternut squash?

A bigger butternut

Cucumber Harvest 

What the hell is this?

Yup..................cucumbers. In my yard. That I grew. For awhile there i was considering throwing in the towel and giving up. It was just sooooo freaking hot. This summer was one of the harshest I have ever experienced. Snorting prozac three times a day would not have helped my mood with the amount of 100+ degree days we experienced. Finally this week, the weather has dipped into the upper 80's and things are starting to look brighter. My cucumbers are flowering, the crooked neck zuchinni's are ripening, a butternut squash is brewing, and the girls have finally stopped panting. I'd say Fall has arrived....................FINALLY. 

Busy Busy Busy..........

Ok...... Sort of but not really.


Past three weeks have flown by. We cautiously ventured out to West Texas (Marfa) to escape the heat for a bit and do a little recovering. My farmhand Claire is BRCA2+(click on cancer risk tab) and a few weeks ago she had a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. After a nine hour surgery, a stay in the ICU, and a few days of begging to get out of the hospital, she is doing remarkably well. Marfa is the city of do nothing. So we did a whole lotta nothing, except rest and recover. It was a beautiful 75 degrees everyday and a chilly, fire starting 50's at night.  I was able to catch a few shows at El Cosmico, where the fabulous Patty Griffin and her legend of a boyfriend Robert Plant played to a crowd of less than 150.  

Patty and Robert

It was awesome to get away, escape the heat, and do nothing. I definitely needed the recharge.I have been thinking a lot about water conservation since this drought in Austin began and I realized I may need to change the way I have been doing things around here at Uprooted Bamboo. I have been throwing around a few ideas and am still weighing some possibilities. Something has got to change since I can't seem to grow anything successfully.  


We got home yesterday and the heat is back to 103. This week it's supposed to dip down to the low 90's.  I went ahead and decided to go ahead and put my artichokes in the ground, praying that the cool weather comes around soon. Anyway, here's what happens when the girls are around and I try to plant something. Not the best helpers around. Seriously, killin me. 

Uh Uh, Stop it..............I know.

Boneless skinless in the House.

Yeah that's right. Remember when I said I could write a book with instructions about how to handle rare chicken happenings that occur when raising chickens? Well seriously......... I can.

A couple of months ago our two furry, four legged farmhands got a little rowdy and ambushed the girls. I know they were probably scheming this sneak attack for a few months, but one windy day, an unlatched gate, and my forgetfulness gave them their long awaited opportunity. Rouge ended up with a hurt leg and a few feathers missing and Penny ended up with a small cut on her back and a few missing back feathers. I cleaned them up, applied antiseptic, massaged Rouge's leg for a few days and in no time they were on their way to recovery. So, I thought. 

Rouge healed up nicely and after a few days the limp was gone. Penny on the other hand seemed to be losing more feathers. Over the next few days, I noticed more and more gone until one morning I walked out and all of her feathers were gone.  I mean, it literally looked like a piece of boneless skinless chicken you would get at the grocery store. Great.

What the hell was going on? I started a search and the list of differentials was long. I ruled out everything from mites, illness, to molting and came to the conclusion that the other girls must be pecking on her. They free range all day, are fed a very balanced feed and have plenty of space, so it took me awhile to believe that this indeed was the cause. Normally chickens turn cannibalistic( yeah I know harsh word, but that's what the feed store guy called it) if the aforementioned needs aren't met. But, I think the cut on her back from the dogs led the other girls to believe she was weaker, low on the totem pole, and ultimately in their world gave them the right to pick on her. The thing is, I never really see them peck at each other. They hang out, eat together, free range, and even at night on the roost I have yet to see them peck each other. One friend even suggested that since it's so hot in Austin, she probably just pulled them out to escape the heat, like taking off her down jacket of sorts. With this heat, as crazy at that sounds, I wouldn't put it past her.

Either way, the situation started to make me worry.

I headed to the feed store for some advice. I had read some things about Blue Kote and wanted to give it a try on her bare skin. It turns the skin a bright blue almost purple color, helps to rapidly heal wounds, and also tastes bad to the other girls who peck her.  The guy also suggested that I try a product called Rooster Booster.  According to the guy, it tastes awful(he knows because a coworker snuck some on the top of his drink once), only needs to be applied once, and will definitely keep the girls away from her. 


I went in guns a'blazin with both products, snatched up Penny, and applied liberally. Shockingly, she was fine with me putting it on her. The real test would be to wait and see if it worked. 


Ok. Now. Really. You have got to be kidding me. Remember when I said I could write the book on yada yada yada............................ well seriously, I can. 
I mean really, only MY girls would like the taste of both of these products. KILLIN' ME. Penny thought it was a buffet on her back and the others took a few tastes and went back for seconds, thirds, fourths. They pecked her back more in the first five minutes of the application than I have seen in the last few months. 


Now what? I could separate her, but the reintroduction might be just as miserable. I found another option, a last resort of sorts. When I found it, I couldn't believe it actually existed or that I would be using it on one of my girls.  Enter the chicken saddle. I know. So freaking ridiculous, but hysterical at the same time. And so versatile really. I put it on Penny yesterday and she's so easygoing she didn't even mind. She is now probably making the other girls jealous now with her sassy new jacket. I know....stop it.


We had a cool front blow through yesterday. 91 degrees. Aaaahhhhhhh. Feels like fall already. Just in time for Penny's new sportswear, only time will tell if it works. 

Chicken saddle sassiness

Oh yeah. It's camo too.