Happy Monday everyone!
What a week it’s been! We had beautiful weather pretty much every day this week except for Sunday, which was absolutely disgusting…windy and grey and dusty and gross…so darn windy that plastic to one of my hoop houses is pretty much torn to shreds. We attached a new (not big enough) strip of plastic over the top of the whole thing to try to hold it together but I’m not sure that it’ll last through the rest of the spring…especially if the winds keep up.
Anyhow, I finally got into the hoop houses to water them and harvest a few leaves of green goodness. On Saturday everything looked great, but yesterday, when I was fixing the torn plastic, I noticed this nice little bed something’s been creating for itself…
What you see there is a nice wind break created from straw and a bunch of little pebbles it’s brought in for itself. Weird. I don’t know what it is…maybe a mouse…but it better skedaddle! I didn’t see any signs of nibbling on any of my plants, but I don’t need whatever it is setting up shop!
It’s also warm enough in there for these little buggers to start showing up on my kale, too. The pic is a bit blurry, but I’m sure you can recognize its nastiness. Ahhh…and so begins (almost) the season of being grateful for nature while battling against her at the same time 😉
Alright, onto the business of the day! Harvests! I cleared out three flats of mixed greens and spinach that were growing under the grow lights last weekend. I had been experimenting with what would grow under them and waiting for the hoop house production to get moving but it was time to make room for some more seed sowing and up-potting 🙂 I know I’m jumping the gun a little, but I’m happily experimenting with the timing of our tomatoes and peppers this year. I’m hoping for a few early fruits!
While I am super grateful for all the greens we’ve gotten over the past couple of months, there really is quite a difference between grow-light-grown and hoop-house-grown. Can you guess which one grew where?
Yes, the hoop houses are really beginning to produce again! And what’s getting big is getting really big! YAY!!!
The Original Ladies have stepped up production as well. We’ve been getting anywhere form 3 to 6 eggs a day, which is awesome! When the newest Newbies start producing, however, I’m not sure we’ll be able to keep up! We just might have to start selling some eggs!
Aside from last weekend with all of its crazy wind, the Ladies have enjoyed the sunshine and some free ranging in the backyard. They’ve also enjoyed their dirt baths…it’s really quite hilarious how much they love their dirt baths 🙂
We’ve also been harvesting a few oregano and basil leaves from our window sill pots. It’s not enough to count in the tally, but it sure is nice to have a few fresh herbs from time to time!
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| Oregano leaf |
This weeks totals:
- Mixed Greens = 3 ounces
- Spinach = 6 ounces (2 oz from under the grow lights & 4 from the hoop house)
- Kale = 1 ounce
- Eggs = 25
Happy harvesting!
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Sorry to hear about your hoop house! After the plastic is secured, maybe think about getting a large shade cloth that you could put over the top before the wind storm, and anchor it with spikes into the ground to keep the plastic from ripping again. That’s what we were going to do with our greenhouse until is lifted out of the ground. LOL
The little nest is interesting too. Do you think a scared bird or squirrel could have hid in there during the wind storm? I have crazy animals that love to be out in the high 65-70 MPH winds, but I bet other types of birds and small animals are smarter than my motley crew. LOL
Your spinach looks amazing!
Ya gotta love the girls and their dirt baths. Sometimes when they lay there in between rubbing the dirt into their feathers, they look dead. LOL They crack me up.
Thanks for the shade cloth idea, Angela! We have a long way to go until these winds are done with us! As for the nest…maybe it was a bird…since the plastic got torn up on top, it might have gotten in, made a little bed and then escaped before we could see it! I still haven’t found any nibbling and the nest doesn’t look like it’s been messed with again, so maybe you’re right!
I googled nest from stones and what I came up with was penguins – have you recently moved a long way south? Silly theories aside now I really want to know what it is, can you set up 24 hour surveillance on the hoop house please?
Penguins?! You crack me up, Liz! I wish I could set up surveillance…be the next youtube hit! Maybe I could make a million dollars off the stinkin’ creature in my hoop house?!
Love your huge spinach, bet that’s from the hoophouse! I don’t think mine got enough nitrogen so it isn’t very big, but that’s alright, always next year! don’t chickens just crack you up?
Yep…there’s always next year! It just might be my favorite thing about gardening…that whole “maybe next year” statement 🙂
How awesome! Wonder whats taking up shop in your hoop house! LOL Maybe a neighborhood cat?
Ha! I think all the cats of been messing with my garlic and strawberries, but not getting in those beds…yet! Stinkin’ cats!
Hope your hoop house holds up especially given the good results. For your pests, are you able to get Encarsia wasps? (in the UK they were available by post/mail). They do a good natural job of keeping pests down.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll check it out 🙂
My guess is hoop house. My spinach gets big in there too. Love the chickens. We won’t have eggs yet for a while. Had to start over on our flock. Good job!
Ha! You’re right, of course! Sorry to hear about your flock! those eggs will be worth the wait, I promise!!!
Beautiful eggs, I am so envious. Your ladies sure are having a great dirt bath time.
VERY interesting. I wonder what is nesting in there?! I love the eggs. I have chicken envy.
Anchor that plastic well! Spring winds can be a real bear. Curious little nest bed created. You would think you would have seen nibbling damage if it had been a rodent?
That’s what I’m thinking…but still no nibbles. It’s very strange indeed.