Good News Bad News

Good News:

We have lovely garden this year. Lots of new things...

Grapes trellised and producing teeny tiny grapes for the first time ever.

I think they enjoy being off the ground and not getting beat up by the lawnmower and little feet.

New raised boxes that enabled us to start more perennials and get the early cold crops in the ground before the big garden was plowed. We added 4- 4X8 beds (peas, greens, and 2 strawberries), 1 - 4X24 bed (asparagus and garlic) and a super long 2X32 bed for our blueberries to our herb and strawberry beds from two years ago. The backyard is really taking shape. A big change from the clay slip and slide it used to be.

This is my greens bed: kale, spinach and arugula.

No wimpy lettuce here, all hearty greens!

And a new north-south orientation of four foot rows for the garden.

This was taken about 10 days ago. There has been more waterfall and more growth.

I'm always amazed what rain and sunshine can do for a garden!

And here it is yesterday... amazing, huh?

Bad News:

This self-proclaimed farm now only has one lone chicken. Sadly we lost all but one of our chickens to a wild animal. Each spring we reinforce our coop to withstand nature, be it weather or predators. It is inevitable that each season we will at some point lose the battle (and a few of our flock) but we have always won the war. Last week I was not awoken by my annoying rooster and that sent a wave of panic through me. At my coop door this is what I found.

No feathers, no struggle. So sad. The chicken yard is fenced and gated and the coop itself was locked tight for the night with all my little ones falsely safe inside. The animal jumped (?) the fence and tore open the vent to get to my sleeping flock. Only "Puppy" is left.

She was always more of a pet than livestock, following us around the yard. She survived because she refuses to roost in the coop at night but instead (and much to my frustration) prefers to stay on my front porch. A devastating set back. It is difficult any time an animal under your care perishes in a way you never intended and I don't believe I will ever get used to it. I am hoping to purchase a new batch of chicks since the weather is still nice to brood them out in the coop. This way by next spring, I will have a new fresh group of laying hens. A small flock of chickens in imperative if I want to call my place a farm. We are even tossing around the idea of raising a couple of turkeys (separately of course) specifically for our Thanksgiving table. Anyone out there raised these large birds before? It would be new to me so any advice will be welcomed. Thanks!