Fair Time Fun

This year was our first year to enter the State Fair. Well any fair really. We don't live in a county that has a fair as we are the home location of the state fair. Last year one of the boys friends entered the honey he collected from their bee hive and the boys were just instant at that time that we enter this year.

Madd entered a watercolor painting and our spicy spaghetti sauce. Kai entered the milder spaghetti sauce and then brownies in the youth division for baking. The latter is something we will do again but with the whole day at the fair planned around it. Wowza.

I entered our variation of a yeast bread.

Being first timers we had no idea what we were up against much less how to enter. I've read the handbook several times now and I still have to pull it up for answers. Not that it's tough to follow, but when your entering such varied categories, there's lots of different things to remember.

Even still the boys did wonderful.

Madd got 2nd place with his watercolor. I have a feeling he'll be entering several art pieces next year.

Kai's spaghetti sauce got 4th and Madd's got 6th. They were in the same group. I'm wasn't sure how those are judged, so it's interesting to me. I have heard though that one factor is the air space. I've been told they do not open them at all. 

(The green ribbon red sauce in the first pick and the pink ribbon red sauce in the second) 

Kai's brownies got first in the brownie group (He was the only one, but even if there had been another. I think he'd have taken it..everyone had to stop and look at those brownies). The adorable girl who won Best in Show for her cookies - which is the division brownies are listed in- had it hands down. She makes those cookies all the time according to her friend. They looked amazing.

They worked to streamline the judging for this years baked goods kids divisions but we were still there for Hours. As an adult I wouldn't have minded, but you sit a kid at a table in front of his brownies for hours without him being able to eat one....and things get a little antsy. He did well though. Next year, we'll enter a few things and we'll all spend the day at the fair. That way they can go ride things in between the entry, the tasting, and the judging tally. I felt really bad for those judges. The first few bites, no, but that last one. Yes. 6 tables of sweets and I better have a salt lick in that judges room.

My bread won first place in the White Yeast Bread competition. Another long day of judging, but it's amazing to see a really good chef like something you tinker around with.

Next year I think we'll enter lots of things. Mostly in the non live judging events. Something where when we show up for the live judging events that we can ooh and ahh over the ribbons because the most fun Kai and I had Sat was hunting down our jars of spaghetti sauce and checking out all the fun art.

We also want to enter chickens next year.

Poultry Workshop at Moss Mountain Farm.

This past Saturday I went with my mother to P.Allen's Moss Mountain Farm for a Poultry Workshop. The weather was perfect and the farm was just stunning.

As urban farmers, we are always on the look out for ways to improve our flock of city hens, so this workshop was something I was looking forward to. The information given may have been much the same as the first workshop (which my husband and I went to in April) but the ability to see these things in practice and pick the brains of some fantastic specialists makes it all worth wile.

The specialists are from the sponsors of the event, though the sponsors are more of a nod to the sponsorship they do on a regular basis for the farm rather than the event itself. All attendees are broken up into groups and get to rotate around to each area. It was interesting both times because of the varied questions. Yes there's a few standard, like How much feed is needed per bird, or an average flock, but there are so many more good ones thrown out there.

Last time I wasn't really sold on any of the breeds we were learning about. Not that they weren't amazing, just that I didn't feel they were the right fit for us. This time though, I found two breeds of fowl that I'd love to keep in the future.


One of the things that made me oh so happy was that there were two kids there. The last one, it had been all adults. My husband and I were pretty well the youngest there. The kids asked great questions and were fantastic all around. We were so happy to see that P.Allen got a moment to really talk to them. I'm debating taking my oldest next spring as he'd love to see it all and would learn so much.

They are building a brand new chicken barn and it's going to be fantastic when they get it all set up. The chicken tractors he'd had there before for each of the breeds were inspiring the last time and I cannot wait to see this new barn all flushed out.

Last time, my husband and I were so focused on the chicken houses that we did not even explore the other half of the working portion of the farm. We missed the gardens (outside of the flowers) entirely. I'm so glad my mother and I got to wander there this time around.

I'll stop blathering on now and let you guys just enjoy the pictures!

Photos copyright Brandy Davis- Do not use or re-post without my consent. Thank you 

Ten Little Chicks- Update

Past week 3 all our chickens just kept growing and growing. The hen house complete they have all moved outside. We split the group up and sent 4 of the Sussex chicks with my mother so ours would settle into their group in their own house.

They did so swimmingly. Adorably. We've enjoyed these past couple of weeks with a quiet house and a group of clucking cuteness in the backyard.

I've still got to finish painting their run as the laytex paint we used just wasn't doing the job. I'll explain that more in my how we built the hen house post.  It turned out very cute.

Tonight however, we lost one of our flock.

 We'd set up a temporary fencing of chicken wire and garden posts to  keep them in and so I've been having to stay outside when the dogs do because our littlest dog figured out how to squeeze under the fence (however she can't figure out how to get back out...) and I did not want any one to get themselves in trouble or have an accident. This also means that if I'm inside working, the dogs can't be outside protecting the birds and they have no rooster as (luck I suppose) we only managed to pick one boy out of all ten of those little fuzzy cuties and he went with my mom.

So tonight, I went outside to close the door on the coop and found Lazy Bones, the little Brahma bantam girl. She'd been bitten by something and was just gone. LB had become one of our favorites as she was a spunky little girl who kept trying to show she was boss. The best we can figure is that something in our neighborhood (we've got raccoon and plenty of stray cats) caught them off guard. Everyone else was huddled at the back of their house where as they normally sleep right inside the door.

 Thankfully we got to let the boys say goodbye to LB and that the bird was in decent enough shape to be seen by them. Lots of feathers saved for them to keep in their journals.

I promise to post pictures of our little but steady growing flock soon as well as a post with our coop building fun. 

Ten Little Chickens Week 3

The chicks have lost nearly all their fluff. They've almost all got a stubby little tail growing and are showing more of their adult color patterns.  They are still adorable in every way to me, but really don't look a thing like the little fuzzballs we plucked from the feed store earlier this month.

Speaking of the feed store, it was amazing to go in (for more feed- we'd run out) and see the latest shipment of baby chicks in the big metal bins. They were smaller than I remember ours ever being even though some were the same as ours. These day's you couldn't cup your hands around our chicks without someone's feet and head sticking out, but those little babies you could cover entirely with your cupped palms.

We switched homes for them as they have taken to perching atop their feeder even though we've provided perches for them. From there they were trying to take flight across the box. Even from the bottom of the box they were starting to peek over the top at each flight attempt. Luckily we ran across a parrot cage at a yard sale. Fully enclosed and having a good amount of height they now have room to go up without me worrying that someone was going to become Gidget's new toy.

They got their first glimpse of them selves in the new shiny metal water bowl and were not sure what to do about it. Soon enough though they were back to enjoying their water as usual. The cage is only covered at the base up about 6 in or so. They now have a view of the whole house. The dogs, the kids, me coming to check on them, which it turns out they've quickly adapted to. The nerf dart war in the house never even bothered them a bit. Where as sounds from outside their home before would have sent them running.

They've figured out feeding schedules too and are no longer afraid when I come up to the door of their cage to refill their feeder. They all bundle up together in front of the door and keep an eye on my arm as it comes in.

We think we've figured out at least one is a rooster for sure, as it's the only one who even before the move wouldn't run from us first thing. It's always the one to check something out first and tends to keep an eye on everyone else when most are napping.

I'll try to add a few new pictures soon, we may actually get to take them outside some this coming week if the weather cooperates.

Ten little chickens Week 2

The chicks have started growing in their feathers and loosing some of their fluff. They have grown quite a bit over the past few days, although some faster than others.

The striped ones are the Sussex and the one with a bit of gray on it's neck is the one we believe is a Silkie.

They have all become much more interested in what's going on outside their home and above it. They keep a close eye on us when we peek over the side. 

It's quite adorable to find them all piled up, but much more so when they seem to snuggle. Although, the first snap of the camera tends to wake everyone back up. They just aren't used to it yet. I'm sure with as many pictures as I'll take of them, it won't even be a sound they acknowledge soon enough. 

One of the funniest sights is to see them stretch their legs out behind them and their wings at the same time. They push one leg way out and you can just imagine them going "Oooh that one was asleep!" 

What's funnier about this is that as a dancer I learned that stretching this way popped my hips if they happened to hurt, so I've been stretching like a chicken for years. *chuckles* 

Chick Days - by Jenna Woginrich

Chick Days

An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens from Hatchlings to Laying Hens

By Jenna Woginrich, author of Made from Scratch

Honestly this was a quick grab for me at the farm store because it was the first book I picked up that had specific info on the subject I was in the store for, Chicks! 

I was looking for something that had more info on raising chickens than the basic chapters in the other books I have on farming. Most of those touch on the vastness of the subject and not the daily ins and outs of owning a flock.

This book has it all as far as I’ve found so far. It’s got wonderful pictures showing stages of growth, breaks things down from the first week (day by day) to the week by week growth of your flock until your settled into owning chickens.

This isn't just written for those who have been at the business of raising chickens for years, but for anyone interested in owning either a backyard flock or a larger group of hens on a couple of acres. It’s wonderful in that it relates to the needs of chickens as well as the joys of owning them. It’s defiantly earned its place on my shelf of farm info. I'll be turning the pages often as my 10 little chickens grow from their small fuzzy selves into the fine feathered friends I cannot wait to see. 


* I'll be featuring the books we have picked up along the way to share what composes our farm bookshelf. These can all be found along the sidebar under "Favored Reads" and will be updated as often as we pick up a new book on any of the subjects we cover here on the blog. 

10 Little Chickens

Today we headed over to one of our local farm stores where they had advertised that chicks would be in this weekend. We knew we wanted 6 and headed out with that in mind.

We were apparently late to the party because the chicks numbers had already been depleted by quite a lot. There were quite a few speckled Sussex babies and two lonely bantams left. There was another breed, but it was more for meat than eggs and we wanted a more rounded bird, so we went with the Sussex and at the last min asked for the two little bantams. One was white, and the kids had already been asking since they'd seen it. This brought our numbers up to ten, which is ok, because there's always the possibility that some of these will be roosters. Roosters are  no go in our city, so we'll have to re-home any that are. 

We purchased the feeders and feed we'd need as well as a book that I had not seen before that seemed to have lots of good info. Most of our books had a chapter on the subject of raising chickens but this one is all about it. I'll review it soon for you ^_~ 

They are all quite happily enjoying their new home, the dogs aren't bothering them and the kids keep running back and forth to see them. I cannot wait until we can complete their house outside, it's going to be fantastic. 

: One of the little Bantams actually has fuzz running down the sides of it's legs, so we are interested in seeing if that one turns out to be a Silkie.  The boys are having a blast running to check on the chicks as they've all perked up nicely overnight. The dogs aren't sure yet what to think even though Gidget (our little Jack Russel mix) is the only one to have actually seen them so far. The other two dogs are just ignoring the box mostly... : 

Yesterday I decided to check on some carrot plants that I'd left alone after our fall bed clean up. When I say clean-up I mean that we knocked down the dying plants and laid them out over the top of the bed. We randomly tossed some banana peels from rushing out the door breakfasts in this bed and let the leaves lay on top since we planned on rotating this bed a different direction come spring. Basically just leaving it to compost a bit on it's own.

I noticed nearly every time I passed it, that the carrot plants were sticking it out. They had been transplanted up front with little hope of them surviving at all as the summer had been hot and unforgiving. They seemed to just stay perky and green all winter long. So I left them be.


When I went to pull a couple to check them yesterday I was surprised and yet happy to find strong plant structures and thumb sized carrots growing.

*please excuse the blurry carrot, I was just taking this one for scale

So my questions are, has any one grown year long carrots before outside a greenhouse situation? Are these no longer edible because they seem to have roots springing from everywhere? If I leave them alone until we rotate the bed can I replant them that day and just leave them to finish growing with hopes of tasty carrots later this spring?

The best I can remember the seeds were for basic average length carrots. This year I'm keeping a seed journal to help with this, I'm sure I put them in the seed bin but somehow I don't have their packet anymore.
They did not have any worm marks or rot on them and I immediately  replanted them back in the holes I pulled them from.

I'm going to be doing research on my end, but I haven't found anything just yet. Feel free to chime in even if you have any clue as I had honestly just given up on these guys months ago!

6 more weeks? Where?!

I know it's a bit early to call it spring, but things are certainly greening up around my house. The weather getting in the 60's and nearly 80 today means that everything in my yard believes it's come to stay.

While I know that there's undoubtedly a quick cold snap coming with the end of Feb/beginning of March, there's no doubt I've already begun to pull out seed packets and pods. My kids are ready for sprouts!

Since it's just around the corner no matter where you are, here's a list of things that are ready to start sprouts in our area* for February. Some of these will repeat in the coming months as they can be started within a window of time depending on your area's schedule.

Horseradish
Carrots
Broccoli
Cabbage
Brussels Sprouts
Swiss Chard
Beets
Radish
Lettuce
Kale
Mustard
Turnips
Irish Potatoes
Onions
English Peas
Spinach

Now things at the top of the list are the first to be done, and working our way down the list means working those things into the ground (or seed starter pots) closer to the end of the month. I realize this is nearly the end of February so I'm going to list the March list in a couple of days so you can begin working on that list as well!

I will start my sprouts indoors as I have not completed building the beds I've planned yet for this year and my kids really enjoy watching them in the mini greenhouses. If you plan to start yours outdoors, please remember that each has it's own depth to be planted and requirements for both space and soil. Also remember to keep an eye on the weather reports! Frost zones can make a big difference in your planting schedule. Our zone isn't in the clear from frost until mid March so we do not plant outdoors until after then.



*This information was issued by the UofA's Division of Agriculture and is based on the zones B and C for Arkansas. My area falls in the middle of these two (A-Pulaski County) and thus I follow it fairly closely. You can find out more from this group on their  website. 

This years garden plan.

Rain and more Rain, some fog and odd temperatures in this state have quelled doing much outdoors this winter.

That doesn't keep this young green thumb from planning for the spring that thanks to our odd weather patterns here, should be just peeking around the corner soon.

So last year we started with three beds, nothing large, just enough to get an idea of what grew best where in our yard and how much we could handle.

This year we would like to try to add a couple more beds, we feel like we can take a better use of the dead spaces in our yard that do get sun and hopefully really use the ones that are going to gain sun due to use needing to remove a couple of trees. 

*This isn't to exact scale , it's really just a quick sketch. 

There are two trees that have to go, and one that we are going to discuss with the tree guys when they are here. The one on the corner of the back deck is too close and is extremely tall so the fence will have to come down on the side of the house to allow for the truck to take it out. 

The one near the middle of the house is a really old tree and it has stretched some long limbs over the house in it's time there. It also is getting too close to the side of the house.  

Since the fence is going to come down, we'd like to take advantage of having to remove the old large stone flower bed and extend the fencing towards the street so we can use more of the yard for gardening. It would also allow us to help even out the slope of the yard as everything runs down to that area. 

Our house sits on a corner lot and the edges of our lot all run downhill to the street making the edges of the yard nearly useless as they are. Climbing ivy has taken over under the three pines on the street side of the house and we'd like to keep that from harming the house. 

The trees coming down are all very large and cover the majority of the yard, I probably should have just drawn the triangle in the middle touching each other. It's quite a canopy which doesn't lend it'self to growing much other than ferns. Taking out the trees is going to help the yard immensely as right now, most of the open ground, is dirt, rock and gravel. As sad as it makes me to take out some beautiful trees, I cannot wait to have grass. 

The chill has set in and all our plants that can move indoors for some prolonged grow time have been moved. We potted the jalapeno plant because it still had several babies growing and had bloomed in the past few days. The other pepper plant was potted to begin with so it just found itself a new sunny spot in the house.

The tomatoes are too large to move indoors though or I'd have tomatoes as there are still a few on the bush. We  pulled the majority and ripened them in a brown paper bag. They are all small but very tasty and a great addition to omelets and salads.

We lucked into a find, a friend of ours was cleaning out one of the buildings they own and found some panels that are covered in chicken wire. So half our chicken coop building supplies and cost are free! Even if we have to dismantle a few they will make a great chicken tractor.

We've gotten the first snow in state, but not quite that cold in our area yet, so the carrots that have been thriving in the fall chill are going to have to come up in a few days. I can't wait to see how they fared!

Usually our area has a nice long breezy fall, but this year, we are already in the 30s at night. Some days are still fall, and some times we even get a little leftover summer, but for some reason we are pogo-ing with winter. 

The first night the weather stations said there was to be frost we pulled all the edible sized tomatoes from the plants and then yanked all the potted plants in. *Horray for potted peppers!* 

That was about two weeks ago....and then the weather turned warmer again. So the tomato plant didn't stop producing.  I'm completely ok with this, but still feeling sorry for the weighted plants who are about to have a freeze tonight. So I'll be pulling more child palm sized tomatoes in hope we can warm them up to red in the house. 

Not long after my last post, I transplanted some carrot plants that had been sulking in the back yard beds. They seem to have enjoyed the odd weather and are steadily growing. I may have to pull them a bit early as well, but hopefully they had a chance to create some tasty young carrots. 

We have begun planning for next years growing season. As it stands we have 3 medium/large beds for planting. Two in a bit of dappled shade and the other which gets a decent amount of sun. Next year we plan on expanding to 8 beds so that we can plant more of what we know works, as well as a few new things. 

Sometimes old wives tails really do hold truths.

 I've been frustrated with some of my plants because they've just been well....blah.
 Yes we've seen some things come from them, but the majority of it has been not what I was expecting.
 Granted the heat this summer has been trying on everyone and everything. So now that the heat has seemingly broken, what my grandmother, and several other peoples mothers/grandmothers have told us has proved true.
 My tomatoes decided that since it's not been in the 100 degree range as of late, they were ready to pounce.
They literally shot up a foot and now have around 10 tomatoes growing.

 Now that's not bad considering there are 6 tomato plants out there, but I'm hoping for more. Besides, that's really just the first three plants, the back three aren't quite as excited as the front ones.
 We also found out that our jalapenos, the tiny little things that they are, are extremely hot. I'm not sure how, or why, but they are!
 I am thinking that we might be making some killer salsa this year.

Photo Tour of Growth Aug 22

As a budding gardener, I take a good bit of joy in seeing the literal fruits of my labor. I could go on in too many words about the things I find in my garden. However, I find that in this territory, sometimes pictures do a better job.

Every so often we'll take a small photo tour of the growth I'm seeing.

Trials and Tribulations of Heat

As many of you may or may not know, our area has been awfully hot as of late. In fact, not long after we started our little garden and were happy to have wonderful sprouts, the heat set in. Meaning that most of my after school, evening, daytime, and all other time was spent trying to save our sprouts from becoming crispy.

A large water bill and lots of rain catching buckets later, we have had some luck.

Our garden brought in some small but tasty potatoes, some wonderful green beans, as well as a couple of cucumbers.

Our cucumbers however were all yellow, which I've found out since then to be from too much water. Our fault entirely. The tomatoes next to them and the jalapeno plants loved the nearly daily watering, but the cukes...not so much.


Ah well, it's a learning year anyway. We really want to know what grows best where in our yard and what doesn't. Next year the squash, cucumber and zucchini will all have it's own bed.


Otherwise several things have hung on through the unbearable heat and have started back up. One lone tomato is trying to turn red. The okra has started producing and I cannot wait to enjoy a batch of that.

A New Year

**This post is a long one, it's an intro and most will not be this long!**

Last year we planted a garden, it was an experiment and a rush job.

This year, we hope to actually grow some tasty additions to our menu and we hope to help others in the process.

This blog will tell the story of our gardening trails. Not just the good, but also the bad. Were going to post tips we find, toss out information that we come across, and hopefully help others to create their own little slice of the country in their backyard.


One of our problems with last years garden {and there were a myriad of them} was that we did not give our plants space or depth enough to grow. The bed was a previously a sandbox and after emptying it we started a layer garden. We did not give enough layers for the plants to really take root and show a yield. This year we started from scratch.


Almost the same time last year as we started our garden we acquired a mass amount of "landscaping" rocks. They were various sizes and shapes and were from someones yard. The listing was on craigslist and basically was a you move, you keep deal. No funds involved other than the gas to get them to and fro.

We spent several hours over a two day period and gathered as many truckloads as we could. The idea at that point had been to use them for a patio.

The more we moved, the less they looked like possible patio rocks. They were large and odd shaped and sharp edged. Something we were going to have to seriously dig out for. And so they sat.

For nearly a year they sat in our front yard collecting leaves. I was determined they were going to be used.


This winter we decided several trees in our yard would have to be removed. They are encroaching on the house and one we believe to be dead. As such, we started discussing the plans for this years garden. My husband mentioned the stones out front, asking if perhaps we could build a rock wall for the garden. We'd already used a couple of stones here or there to help in our reshaping the flower beds to help with the flow of water across the yard in the rains.

It was decided quickly that that would be a great way to use the rocks.

Now, there are only a few spots in our yard that get decent sun right now. Most of the yard is covered by tree shade. The one area that does get a bit of sun was lower than the rest of the yard. So first we had to build up the yard in that area.


We've been quite busy over the past fall and winter and thus had lots of leaf matter in the yard. We raked the majority of this into the area of the yard that was lower as fill. Every time we went out and raked up spots we'd add it to this area. Instead of hunting down a load of dirt and just tossing bags of leaves out to the curb, we managed to fill the area several times over with leaves. {I did say we have a number of trees!}

About two months later and the ground was nearly level. When we ran out of leaves we used some of the neighbors. They were fine with us picking up their bagged leaves.

The wonderful thing about doing this is that we created a very nutrient rich bed in which to start our garden.

Our city does not have a program that I've seen in some other cities where they offer mulch/fill for free. Ours charges for it. We would rather compost our own mulch*.

Lines set out we built our garden wall in one day.

It's not perfect, it's quirky and makes me think of wild English gardens. I cannot wait to fill it with leafy greens.

But sprouts come first.



*We will discuss compost in another post later on. It's great stuff and simple to fix if you feel you've done something wrong.

Help with Ants

Posing a question to all of you homeowners and gardeners.

We've always battled ants at our house because it's older and has lots of small places they can sneak in. Every year we find new spots to fill with caulk and we lay down some serious nasty stuff to get rid of them.
(blech I hate using chemicals like that, but when it's the only thing making a dent...)


This year they've been extremely bad. I'm used to seeing one or two and then finding where they got in at.....but three times they've invaded in larger numbers this year. I'm talking from spring to now!

The kind of ant we have seems to not care about water as they keep trying to take over my bathroom (in the shower!). They've left the kitchen alone as of late, only trying there once. So I'm wondering, what do you guys do?

It's getting silly, I don't want to waste any more money on chemicals if they just aren't going to work and cinnamon hasn't stopped them a bit. Not even bleaching the entire bathroom (which was said to make the ants at the colony ostracize the bleach smelling ants) has worked. These are some tuff little guys.

We've bombed under the house and in the attic, seeded the yard with a spreadable seed like poison and sprayed the permiter several times. They just keep coming back.

To me it seems like they've got a nest somewhere we just haven't found the critical entrance yet. But I have combed the house. We've killed so many other bugs around our house the spiders are getting brave and exploring the floors for something to eat! (*shudders* I cannot stand spiders)

Help?

Tomatoes, Squash, Lettuce and Pumpkins

Being the only things that survived in our little garden, we've decided next year to really give it all some space.

The tomatoes are doing fine, I've gotten three little cherry tomatoes off my plant and have another pair growing up there right now. Still waiting on everything else to produce, but as most are 50 days or more...should be soon.

Tomatoes

My neighbor brought me a bag of tomatoes he'd traded some peppers the neighbor for. He said she gave him too many for them to eat so he thought he'd share.

We love tomatoes so we were more than happy to have them.

Seeing those bright red yummy treats made me a tinge jealous though. My little tomato out there is still tiny and green.

Patience is something I am working on regaining.
I'm sure it will be delish when it finally ripens though and I hope it will have some tasty siblings soon!

Our Second Growth

So far....so meh.
We've gotten nothing much out of our sprouts so far. Granted, we weren't expecting a ton as we were bad little gardeners and left the sprouts in their pod greenhouse for too long.

Unfortunate, but something we didn't really have to much control of as the weather was so wild here for a bit. Of course that was right when the sprouts were ready to move on.

So I've gathered one more bean pod and we've got our first tomato growing on it's little stalk.

I've got to buy more dirt this weekend as my squash plants have managed to push around enough in trying to stretch in their new home and have nowhere down to go. So I'll add some more top layer and cross my fingers.
It is layer gardening after all. ^-^

Til next time!