A fungus Among Us

I'm growing them. Oyster Mushrooms. A spray of water here and there and BAM...... growth. Shit, I even forgot about to spritz them for two days and wouldn't you know it, they grew bigger. I haven't grown anything this easy in a long time.  


In a few days, these bad boys will be ready for the grill. 

Chicken attack

Been gone awhile........yeah i know, again. 


Tired, unmotivated, lazy, busy, saving money. Gasp.  The list of excuses is endless. But the last excuse above, conserving the green, is by far the most important. We have a pretty big event going down in October, so the flow has stopped and is damned up in the bank. Anyway, there are still a few emotional logistics to sort out with a few people, so more on the big event  a little later. 


So, the equation for 2012 looks like this:


(October)($$$$)+No cash flow= minimal projects. 


Boo.


The girls are good and everyone is finally getting along great. We are all unfortunately still missing Penny. Bridget just started laying and we are still waiting for Big Monica to give us her first. Bridget is laying super cute, tiny cadbury like eggs. Seriously, so tiny. You literally have to eat 3 to equal one normal egg. Sigh.

Yesterday, for free, I went ahead and readied the garden boxes for spring planting. The weather has been warm lately so I thought I would get a head start. This year is going to be the year of produce. I can feel it.

Here's a video of me and the girls getting the boxes ready. Seriously, as soon as I grab the shovel and start digging, they are all over me. I can't fight them off they are so excited. The many "ouches" you here are me trying to protect my digits. In all their excitement, the girls aren't able to tell the difference between my short little stubby toes and grubs. Yowser. 

A video

A video of the rye grass cover I planted for the winter. The girls love it and the weeds are gone. 




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdmvMZtWOeY&context=C38798ddADOEgsToPDskLgwtDJyUWVq1jGPnDIerS-

Fruity

Wow. Been Busy with the holidays and all. I can't believe its already the middle of January. Not much going on. I have been rotting in the box way too much. Things just haven't slowed down. Putting a huge Blah factor on my mood. 


I planted a few fruit trees last week (2 peach, a plum, a fig, and a pear).  I decided to do something a bit different because I'm worried about the overall quality of my soil. I made a 2 1/2 foot by 2 1/2 foot box out of cedar that is twelve inches tall. I dug and removed the soil about six inches deep in the ground and placed the level cedar box around the six inch deep hole, making it a total of 18 inches deep.  I back filled with a 50/50 good quality soil and compost, planted the bare root tree, watered, and added about three inches of mulch. I followed it up with a good dose of seaweed/fish fertilizer. So far so good, except the past two nights have been frigid in the 20's. Ugh. Hopefully, the weather didn't kill them.  Supposedly if they haven't leafed out by June, then it's a bust. Fingers crossed. 

Ripe?

I took my sister in laws advice and put my green cherry tomatoes in a brown bag, folded it up, and waited.
I spent a week in mexico (thanks #jacqsbirthdaybash) and when I came back, some of them were red and the rest are on their way to being ready to eat. We made a salad the other day, used them, and they tasted great.

Just to rub it in, this was the view from my beachside bed x 6 days

This Means War

It makes me sad when I come home from work and make sure the girls have made it to the roost and I only count five butts. I miss my Penny. I'm not going to lose another one. 


Claire mad a good point. It's the circle of life and the poor Hawk was just hungry. It's the survival of the fittest. I understand that, but, I still hate it. 


I have waged a war on this hawk. I haven't see it around in the past 3 days, but It's been cold and rainy. I'm sure the first day the sun comes out it will be back. 


So, I have done a few reinforcements to the coop. I hung some shiny eye ball looking things in the trees to hopefully scare it away. Some people use old Cd's but I bought mine today at the feed store. Supposedly the shiny will scare it away. 


I bought some netting that I am going to hang throughout the run. Hopefully, this will make the hawk unable to swoop down and prey on the girls. 


Lastly, I bought a decoy. It's an owl. Supposedly one of the fiercest, most feared predators around. 
Check it out here: 


HAWK WAR

RIP........Sweet Penny

A hawk took her out today. 
Im sad................

Penny(in front)