Britesea - Living the good life in rural Oregon

[Britesea]

I got the word that the chicks are coming on Friday! Thank goodness because we still haven't quite got things done. Everything always takes longer than you think it will, doesn't it? One thing we have noticed is that we can tell that 6 months of Tai Chi is helping- there is no way we could have done this before. I got the first babies out of the bathtub on Tuesday, and into Fort Clucksop. Yesterday I let them outside for the first time and they loved it! With them out there, I have the bathtub available if (God forbid!) we aren't done with the Waldorf Eggstoria. We still have a tiny bit of insulation and interior panels to do, plus hardware cloth over the windows, and the door. Should be able to do that today; but I also want to paint it inside to protect the wood, and that will need to dry and cure for a while before I can move the chicks in.

The weather report is talking about a low of 33 on Saturday night, with the possibility of snow showers.

I've started hardening off my cool weather seedlings to go into the garden next week. The tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are thriving in the greenhouse. The new strawberries I bought are looking good. They are Old North Sea variety, from Baker Creek. Supposed to be very cold hardy, although I haven't had any trouble with my other strawberries either. My asparagus is looking wonderful! We could have harvest a small bit this year, but it would only be about a dozen stalks and I decided I would rather let the plant grow stronger before I start taking shoots.

I forgot to dig up the poppies that had taken root in the middle of the path last year, so they reseeded and now I have a larger patch of them growing in the path. They have to go, since they take up too much room for me to walk around them.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yay for chickies! I swear if my broodies don't start doing a better job they're going to get the boot, lol. Tai Chi is good stuff - at least my DH tells me it is. When he was working in another city he needed something positive to occupy his time so he signed up for a class. He loved it! I need to encourage him to look for a class close by and maybe he can get back into it again.

Hope your plants do well!

 

[hqueen13]

Woot on the Tai Chi! It is so great to discover the benefits of a practice like that!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

@Britesea - curious if you're growing rat-tail radishes this year?

 

[Britesea]

@frustratedeathmother I am definitely growing the rat-tail radishes again this year. I LOVE them! I love radishes in general, but they don't do well in the heat of summer; the rat-tails take over at that time. They are crunchy and have that nice bite like a radish- delicious chopped up into scrambled eggs! I haven't tried them in a stir fry yet, but I've heard the flavor is still there, but the bite is muted a bit by the cooking process.

The babies showed up this morning as scheduled. I ordered 25, and they sent 27- but one was dead and a second one died within the hour. Everyone else looks perky and cute though!

We ended up being lazy today and didn't do squat on the Eggstoria though *sigh* so they are living in the bathtub.

I'm making General Tso chicken tonight- using almond flour for the breading, and thickening the sauce with Xanthan Gum. Cauliflower rice and a vegetable stir-fry on the side. Hope it turns out tasty!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yay for chicks!

I was seriously thinking of ordering some seeds. Good to know that they do well in heat.

Yummy... your menu sounds delish as usual!

 

[Britesea]

I found that 6 plants or so gave me more than I could use- once they start flowering they are extremely prolific. Oh, and you can eat the flowers too- they have a little bit of a bite but not much.

 

[hqueen13]

Yay babies!
Your dinner sounds amazing!!!

 

[Britesea]

It's been a while since I've journaled...

The older chicks are clucking now, not peeping. We went ahead and opened the yard gate so they can free range- they didn't hesitate, but made a beeline for the lush grass they'd been looking at through the yard fence. Not moving very far from the gate though. We kind of held our breath, waiting to see what Millie would do; but that dog just lay in the shade and watched them. Everybody was calm; it was kind of anticlimactic actually.
The younger chicks are growing like crazy. They spend a lot of time looking at the great outdoors through their screen door. I don't want to let them out just yet, because they are still small enough to slip through the fences around the property and I want them close, where Millie can deter predators. Besides, we are going through a cold snap right now and they aren't quite fully fledged out yet.

Our apple trees appear to be going through a lean year- very few blossoms. The plums, however, are covered with baby fruit. I think we lost the cherry tree- I don't know what happened. It was starting to bud out and then just.... stopped. I need check if any of the branches or the trunk are still "wick". The strawberries are full of fruit. The raspberries are starting to bloom.

I covered my garden with frost covers, but it looks like the swiss chard still got a bit of frostbite. Everything else looks good though.

Today, I'm on clear liquids only. The lab found a bit of blood in my stool sample, so tomorrow I've got a colonoscopy. It's probably nothing serious, but a few prayers would be appreciated. Then, DH needs to see the doctor next week because he has a mole changing color and becoming painful.

 

[sumi]

Prayers and for you and DH.