First, the chicks we hatched here at home are doing great! Looking more and more like adult chickens all the time. We gave 6 of them to a friend and kept 5 four ourselves. In return we got a red silkie! Oh she is a beauty!! I'll have to post a picture of her soon, she has blue earlobes!
Our Muscovy pair are still waiting on their eggs to hatch. This will be the hen's first clutch, so we are hoping she's a good momma. We've have some predator issues and reinforced their pen as much as we can. Now to just hope for the best!
Our 7 one year old hens are laying 6 eggs a day now. Still waiting on the two new partridge Penedesenca pullets to start laying. They were supposed to have hatched in January, so I think they should be laying any day now. They are not friendly chickens at all, but I can't wait to see their dark chocolate brown eggs!
The other nine pullets we bought are doing really well. They took over the coop the broilers were in. Now this group is very friendly and calm. The Buff Orpingtons like to be picked up and held along with the new Silkie. We have such a great variety in this bunch! Lots of different colors to see.
The broiler chicks were taken into the butcher at 8 weeks old. They grow so fast!! Now we have a freezer full of delicious home grown chicken! I tried a new recipe for roasting them and it's my new go to for delicious moist chicken! Low and slow is the way to go with these.
Now on to the garden update!!
Dale and the rest of us put a lot of work into getting the new large garden bed ready for planting. It was just a field of grass earlier this spring. Take a look at some of the progress we made.
Here another shot of our mini hoop house too. I removed the plastic at the beginning of June once our night temps were warmer.
My trays of transplants that I started from seed were all ready to be planted out after hardening off in the hoop house. They are all doing well in the garden now.
I harvested all of the diakon radishes today, the larger ones were beginning to bolt so it was time. The chickens feasted on the tops and I cleaned up the roots for us. Now I'm not a big radish fan, but I had read that these large radishes, when roasted, taste a lot like parsnips. Parsnips I like! So I pulled a few last weekend and roasted them along with some carrots and our chicken. Delish! I'll be planting a fall crop of them! We've also lunched on BLT's with the L-lettuce coming straight from the garden. So good and fresh. There wasn't much asparagus to harvest yet this year, but it's coming along. We also ate beet greens one night with supper after I thinned the bed. The kids surprised me and really liked them!
I need to get out and take some updated pictures of the gardens and chickens soon! But it's raining today so that will have to wait. I'm glad to have the needed rain, but now we need some warmer temperatures too!
How does your garden grow??
