yellow daylillies

pink peony

blue and white theme, white coneflowers will be blooming soon

the last rhodie to bloom

the Big Girls looking longingly thru the gate

 

As I was weeding out the iris bed, I wondered how the grass and dandilions can grow so fast and huge. It seems that I turn my back and here they are. The Iris have multiplied so that they need to be distributed around the five acres in a random manner. Maybe I will plant them down by the stream, along with the dogwood and daylillies. I can always use an new planting area. It rained most of the day today, altho not so chilly. Since it is almost July, I think our Oregon summer will be coming soon. I am almost sure of it!

Pink Bleeding heart

 Spring is in full swing here in the Mohawk Valley. Altho down in the forty's at night,and plenty of rain today, I have hopes of someday sunshine and pleasant days in the garden.

Hostas and white bleeding heart along the porch

Blue bird house with honeysuckle

The Big girls help eat all the slugs

 l

The new Baby Girls still in their enclosure

Finally some sunshine !

some day it will be warm enough to sit on the porch!

Our new chicks are old enough to go out to the hen house, altho we have them segregated from the Big Girls. They have their own door and chicken yard., and have figured how to go in at night. A big accomplishment! We have 3 Golden Sex Link, and 3 Barred Rock for our new girls. All 17 of the old girls are Americanas. One of the Big Girls did weasel her way into their yard and try to eat up all their baby food, but was quickly chased out by David.  We are getting 12 to 17 eggs a day now, and I have to remember to keep some for us, and not sell all of them at work. I have more buyers then eggs sometimes.

David has doubled the size of our vegetable garden, and had fenced it in for deer protection. He has a good amount of strawberries and raspberries thriving, but we hope to get the potatoes, beans, corn, tomatoes, ans squashes planted the first of June. It has been so wet and cold here. The garden shares a fence with the new chicken yard, the plan is to keep the compost pile on the chicken side and then open up the adjustable gate and aply it to tthe garden when ready. The girls do love to scratch thru the compost!
Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend!

We are still having chance of frost at night, lows in the low 30's, so just a few signs of spring- like chickens in the daffodils! The bees are not doing much either. But the new chicks are peeping away in the galvinized tub in the living room! Biscuit, our Springer Spanial would love to see them closer for a snack, but has been good so far. It would be nice to get the garden in, then I remember we are in Oregon, where it won't start warming up untill the end of May!  I want to plant the containers, like the rusty chair above, but am not quite brave enough to put in the geranium starts I have been babying all winter. I do usually get the 20 or so hanging baskets going abut this time, but not quite organized yet to get the plants. I think a green house is going on the DH list!

It's early spring here, only in the 40's in between showers, still a little snow visible in the hills surrounding our valley. Of course, when I go outside, the Chickie Girls think I need to feed them, so they come running. They have been busy in the perennial bed, scratching midst the cat mint and white cone flower coming up, around the daffodils which are like solid sunshine. The peonies are sending up their red shoots, with promise of heavy fragrant blossoms to come. I also have the grape hyacinth blooming, bleeding heart peeking up, the iris are sending up new shoots, along with the day lilies. The girls are busy laying as we have more light now. We are getting between 10  to 15 eggs a day. Luckily I do have buyers for them!
I added some Double Delight roses, orange and pink dahlias to the long perennial bed. Can't wait to see the colors as they come up! I also have new plans for another flower bed beyond the arbor over the fire pit, and despite my promises to my husband, am sure I need more plants to add the the established beds;)

One day the girls are hanging out under the pine tree and the next day we woke to a couple or three inches of snow here in the Mohawk Valley. So they spent all day in the chicken yard, very leery of the scary white stuff. But we got 10 eggs today! Much better. Now if I can keep my poor husband with the broken arm from climbing up to sweep the snow off the  dish on the roof...

Hope your Valentines day was lovely and sweet!

Lovely blue sky and loads of sunshine today! Altho it was down to 25 degrees last night, and is only in the low 40's now, the sunshine makes up for it. The Chickie Girls are busy looking for bugs and seeds, and gather around each time I go out.

 "Do you have any thing good to eat?"

 We have eaten all the ferns and hostas that used to be in this bed under the Giant Fir.......

Now we have to look for bugs and hope for any

flowers that peek up.......

Of course, I have big plans to fence them up over AWAY from the Perennial beds. Last years sad experiences in the lovely pink impatiens bed has prompted me to add fencing tasks to the Chicken Farmers list of chores. ;)

This picture is actually last spring, I don't really have daffodils up yet! I look each day to see how high the green tips are peeking up, tho. The anticipation of spring helps me get thru these months of winter. Here in the Oregon valley I live in, the days are sunny and in the 50's this week. We will soon return to cold foggy days, but in the meanwhile, the chickens are happily clucking thru the fields and garden beds. My goal is to get the girls fenced in before my perennials start coming up again, tho. I need less scratching around the flower beds and  less dirt bathes in the hosta beds! I am dreaming of a new flower bed or two, and have the High Country Gardens catalog beside my chair, making lists as I go. A plant catalog and a nice cup of tea is all I need!

Chickens off the grid!

My camera isn't the best, but you may be barely able to make out the string of Christmas lights over our hen house. My husband is especially proud, as he has them hooked up to the solar panel on top (which runs the light bulb inside for winter light).
So our girls not only have Christmas Spirit, but are off the grid as well!

I hope you had the Merriest Christmas ! My house was filled with grandchildren, son and daughters and parents, and friends, a blessing to share the day with them!

A summer recap: Our summer has flown away, and now Fall is coming soon. Here in our little valley we have had morning fog and sunny afternoons this week, but the rain is coming. I have been trying to get the last of the green beans canned, did put up a dozen pints of spaghetti sauce, canned 20qts of peaches earlier. We didn't get as much blackberries picked this year, our hot weather was fleeting and they did not ripen as quickly, but the chickens have been busy hopping up to get what they could reach! I would really like to get some apples to make apple sauce. My in-laws no longer have the property with the apple orchard, and we miss getting the boxes of apples! I have been busy stocking the pantry, trying to have a well rounded supply of food and sundries for the winter and for uncertain times ahead. We were able to get honey from our bees, enough to fill a couple of Rubbermaid tubs, and I am going to get them strained and put in jars, eventually.
I also need to clean out my flower beds and plant some lily bulbs which were delivered this week, too. The weekend is too short!