Chicks arrive Today

And I was worried about it being too hot! It being August and all. The traveling chicks might be too cold!

These chicks will be grown for R’s freezer. Her families will be well fed this winter.

After chores today I am going over to a friends pear tree. He has lots of windfalls arriving on the ground for the pigs and chickens. So we will be collecting them regularly.

The layers continue to produce only 6 or 7 eggs a day. There are lots of old chickens in there. I cannot wait for our new brood to start laying but it will be a few months yet.

The PopPops are doing super well in their new found freedom. They are so food driven that when I call them they race hard for the gate to their small enclosure. Their short little legs a blur as they veer across the field to their feeding station. They know that is where their treats will be. Frantic that the turkeys might get there first.

The turkeys, who still think they are locked up are a bit of a nuisance as they stand gormlessly in the way of the racing little piglets. So the piglets run right under their tails. The turkeys never get there first! The PopPops are fast.

The turkeys flew up to sit on the fence a while during the day. Then back they went into the field. One turkey flew down into the driveway and the great outdoors resulting in frantic pacing from the lone turkey – she could not work out how to fly back up and over to rejoin the flock.

She kept jamming her head into the wire netting trying to force her big body through small holes. In the end I just caught the stupid thing and threw it over the gate.

Hopefully they can learn how to get out and back in without issues but I am not holding my breath.

The garlic bed ground has been broken. R and I are going to plant a crop of hard neck garlic soon. In this zone we plant in late September early November. The garlic will establish then freeze (we will cover the beds in a light covering of straw to help with even cooling) then we harvest mid summer next year. This year we will have to buy the heads, to seed the crop, but going forward we will save garlic to replant.

I have a market for garlic scapes which will pay for this years seed garlic.

The other half of this bed will have a mustard seed cover crop then onions in the spring. With all the kerfuffle this spring I did not get any onions in and I need 365 onions a year. Onions, garlic and potatoes are staples in my house.

Today I will spread compost over this entire area then till that in. Cutting a new garden takes time.

Next year the pumpkin patch will go into legumes – peas and beans. Nothing nightshady.

I have a patch out the South of the house that I am already prepping for potatoes.

And clearing the sweetcorn garden to the cows and pigs then we will prep that for tomatoes next year.

All the kitchens gardens will be big. The farm feeds more families every year.

Good morning. Have a great day!

I better get a wriggle on – those chicks will be ready for pick up soon.

C