Down from the peanut bed will be wild flowers. This little strip was expanded out from last years 6 +/- inch strip. Morning Glories will climb the fence between the dogs side of the yard and ours and I’ll be happy with anything else that comes up, too (that is, after I throw down some actual seeds). The kiddie pools stacked up at the end will be for our potatoes (which will go in the dirt this weekend). Tool Lady purchased these pools last summer thinking they’d be good for the dogs. We quickly learned that the dogs weren’t very impressed unless it involved getting super muddy. So, in an attempt to re-use these guys before just trashing them, we are going to try to grow potatoes. The green, second layer is bottomless and is just sitting inside the blue one with some good dirt and some hay waiting patiently for the potatoes (which are eying up nicely in a basket on my kitchen counter).
Now, in preparation for another dry summer (drought sucks), I have been trying to figure out how to save more water/use less water. I have purchased Fish Girl a timer for her bathroom and have requested that she take 10 minutes showers. I know this sounds like a long shower, but she could be in there for an hour and still want more time. No joke. I am also planning on purchasing another water catchment bin to go under our roof spout in the back yard (right now we have one 55 gallon container) and we have a bucket that catches all the water in the shower while said water is heating up through the pipes.
As an experiment, I brought a bucket into the kitchen and saved all the water from the boiled eggs I made as well as from the rinsing of the lettuce and spinach I harvested. I then poured the water into our (really sad) container (you like my plastic wrap fix up job?) and happily went outside to water the spinach and lettuce still in the ground. How much water did I get out of this little experiment?
2 gallons! Hey, every little bit helps, right?!
On the chicken front, here are three of the Newbies, out and about in the yard. They are now hanging out with the grown Ladies, although they don’t sleep together yet (by choice). No real drama ensued when we introduced the ladies to the Newbies, aside from Prim trying to act tough.
Prim still thinks she’s hot shit, but the Ladies are teaching her to chill out a bit. We’ll see if she’s preparing to make us some eggs, if she’s preparing to be a he, and/or if she is preparing to become part of a yummy stew. There will be no mean girls in my flock!!!
She sure is pretty though.
I’ve been reading a bit about HugelKulture beds. Pretty much raised bed idea with burying logs, twigs, stumps, whatever wood you have. It hold a ton of water and breaks down over years. From surface research it appears it would work out well in the desert to absorbs moisture when there is some and release it gradually over the dry spells. Dig your beds out, place a bunch of wood down, and then bury with the bed dirt over it. I’m pondering over doing it as well. I’ve already worked the earth with the Double-dig method anyway. Just one more step.