State of the Homestead

The heat is back and we've been roasting down here. Despite the triple digits, it's still not as bad as the drought we had last year.

I find it interesting that the media has been harping that the price of food will skyrocket because of the drought, yet our drought was worse last year and the only thing it affected was the cost of hay.

By the way, food prices were supposed to go up late fall. Yet, grocers (and feed stores) are already charging more for the same products. Can we say price gouging?

Consumers just can't catch a break.

Scorpions and Snakes, oh my! They've been awful lately. Greg dragged a giant snake out of the chicken yard. (That's him on the right--the snake, not Greg.)

I found a smaller snake in my studio. Why the heck was it in my studio--and more importantly, how the heck did it get inside? 


Full disclosure: When I found that snake, I used more colorful language than "heck".

We've been using sticky pads and have been catching scorpions on a regular basis. I even caught a husband once, but it was a 'catch and release'.

Chickens: I won't show the picture here, (I know some of you have weak stomachs) but we butchered most of the Buff Orphingtons. I'm replacing them with the Maran. The picture I wanted to post was the inside of a hen with eggs in various stages of development. It was fascinating. The hen is a true egg machine.

But as a breed, the Orphingtons were not very good chickens. They ate a lot. Got fat. And didn't produce near as many eggs as the other birds. Worse yet, when I free-ranged them, they were the only birds that insisted on getting into my garden. They wanted a free meal, rather than hunt for their food. They had to go. On this homestead everyone must work for their keep.

The Maran is a new breed of chicken for me. They lay dark brown eggs which is a bit of a novelty. See the picture to the left. The green and light brown eggs are from the Americaunas. The dark brown eggs are from the Maran. Pretty cool, huh?

I found a rooster and two hens locally. Everything looked good in the beginning. The hens laid small but nice dark brown eggs. But then I moved them to their permanent pen, and all production stopped.

Update: It's been 3 weeks since I wrote this and one of the hens is starting to produce again.

They are very skittish--especially the rooster. I have a feeling he's going to be invited to dinner as soon as I can find his replacement. He refuses to mate with his hens! I've never heard of such a thing.

Everyone always asks for pictures of newborn chicks, so here's a short video.

Gardens: My regular garden is nearly done. There are a few peppers and eggplants producing, but it's time to put it to bed.

My new garden is still going strong. The tomatoes are especially nice looking there. The sweet potatoes, mangels, and loofahs are beautiful and robust. Grasshoppers decimated my sunflowers and corn though. I harvested some corn, but those darn hoppers took out ALL my sunflowers. I didn't get a single one.

The tomatoes in my new garden tasted better and were meatier. We had a little problem early on with blossom end rot (you gardeners know what that is) but when I started flooding the rows and sprinkling each plant with crushed eggshells, they snapped out of it and produced beautifully.

Our onions are fantastic too. Very sweet. I am eating them as treats in between store-bought onions because I want them to last as long as possible.

Peppers took a long time to produce this year. The bell peppers came early, but the hot peppers are just now making an appearance. Too late for a completely organic salsa so I had to improvise.

Mangels and beets were so-so. I'm only growing them for livestock feed but I'm a little disappointed they weren't as robust as I was told. Right now I'm not sure if it's the soil, too much sun, or not enough water. Has anyone grown beets? Any suggestions?

We were very pleased overall with the quality of the produce in the new garden. I'd like to convince Greg to let me rest the old garden in 2013 and just use the new garden.

Homestead chores are winding down to a less breakneck speed. I'll be glad for the slower lifestyle in the winter. Whoever thinks living in the country is carefree and tranquil does not live here.

I'm ready for my break.

What's new in your neck of the woods? Books, kids, gardens, Olympics?

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