Lasagna Garden

It is that time of year- getting prepared to put in our garden! There is nothing more exciting than the hopefulness of gardening. This year, we decided to expand our garden. However, I didn't want to dig anymore than I was already going to have to for our patio. I began seeking an easier answer online and discovered lasagna gardening! The most common method is to put down a layer of cardboard or newspaper (wet it) and cover with alternative layers of browns (leaves, paper, etc) and greens (vegetable/fruit waste, egg shells, etc) and then let is compost over the winter. Well since winter was already past and I didn't want to wait until next year, I put down six inches of finished soil over the cardboard. While my method is more expensive and required me hauling a lot of bags of topsoil, peat moss, perlite, etc it did give me an "insta-garden" without digging! Getting all that cardboard was another story..... First I raided our office cardboard recycling bin but that barely made a dent in what I needed. Then I got the idea to go to a local wholesale club to the free box bin. I spent over an hour there breaking down boxes and got stopped twice by employees wondering what in the world I was doing but when I was done I had an entire grocery cart filled with flat sheets of cardboard. I laid it all out and had to laugh since all the boxes were for food products, I had what looked like a big billboard of grocery store ads! We had everything from Spam to Snickers boxes! I wish I had remembered to take a picture but in my exhaustion I totally forgot. Our final garden is now 30 ft by 20 ft and last year it was 10 ft by 12ft! 

Farmer in the Office?

"Oh sweet, I found the grow bag I have been looking for!" - me
"What!!! You can grow bags???"- Sweet but confused co-worker
"No, they are bags you grow things in!!" - me

Impulse Purchase

Today's activities can best be summarized by Jeff's responses-

"Hun, I have to disagree. Apple trees are really not an impulse purchase even if they were on sale."

Upon looking out the window, "And contrary to what you seem to think, your Civic is not a truck."

I am that chicken mom!!!

This past weekend Jeff took me to Montreal for my birthday weekend. While at dinner, I kept hearing myself ask him if he thought the girls were okay and wondering what they were doing at that moment. My rambling came to a screeching halt as I realized I was that mom. You know her, the one who talks incessantly about getting away for a few days and as soon as she does, talks non stop and worries about the kids while she is gone. Here I was with my wonderful sexy husband in one of the most romantic cities in the world enjoying a wonderful glass of white wine by candlelight in a French restaurant and I am wondering if the girls are going to keeping changing nesting spots at night. Yup, it is official I am way too into this.

Update- the next night I pulled it together and stopped talking about chickens and ducks while on vacation and thanks to my mom and dad for watching the girls. 

Egg Production Back to Normal

I feel like statements like that make it sounds like I have a spreadsheet and a clipboard keeping track of the eggs per day. We really don't. Basically the way it goes whoever gets home from work first goes to collect the eggs. When the other one of us gets home we ask how the girls are and get a response like, "Good it was a two egg day."

Regardless, we are happy to report that the slowed egg production caused by the molting is now over. We are back to our normal two eggs a day. Which for only two people adds up quickly- does anyone need any eggs? 

Body Check Eggs

Yikes! A couple of weeks ago we were collecting our daily eggs and noticed that one of them had what looked like a pimple on the side. I was worried about eating it, so Jeff did some online sleuthing and discovered we had what is called a body checked egg. (On a side note, isn't it cool to know terms like that? Tomorrow, I am going to have to figure out a way to fit that into conversation at the office.) Basically the egg cracks inside the bird, but she is able to heal it before laying it. Isn't that just incredible? It never ceases to amaze me what nature can do. The egg is perfectly fine to eat (and was yummy as always) but what concerns me is that body checked eggs often come from birds who are stressed. (This happened before the ducks moved downstairs so it isn't my fault!) I am going to keep an eye out to see if this keeps happening.

A New Duck Home

I am not sure if it is my imagination or not but it seems like the ducks out grew their temporary "box I took home from the office" quarters faster than the chickens did. Either way, I needed a home for them in the basement ASAP. I debated building a similar home to the one Jeff built for the chickens but decided against it because I wanted to continue to stretch our clandestine farming minds and explore new ideas. (Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you that it is statements like this that normally get me into trouble but that is besides the point.)

First I thought about prebuilt raised garden beds. This would make the process easier and look more professional (sorry Jeff- nothing against your handy skills). This idea got thrown out for several reasons- I couldn't find find one big enough and even if I could, how would I fit it in my car...plus you would be SHOCKED by how much they cost.

Then came the idea of a kid sand box. The wooden versions came big enough but again were more than I wanted to pay and the cute plastic versions that were shaped like turtles or pirate ships were too small.

Just when I was about to give up and just build the same darn coop we have for the chickens, it finally hit me- an inflatable pool! A quick trip to the local seconds shop and $25 later and we were on our way- plus in came in lime green - bonus!

It just took a half an hour to unfold the pool, inflate it with our camping air mattress pump, lay down the pine shavings for bedding, get their waterer and food dish filled and we were set! I am fairly sure that they won't be able to escape however if they do, my plan is to buy the same pool and cut out the bottom and attached it to the first pool to raise the wall height. They have been in it for a few days without any problems but we will see as they get older/bigger. I don't think they can puncture the sides with their bills however, I don't know about their nails. I try to clip them regularly but they get sharp fast so that is another question. Like most things around here, it is an ongoing experience. We don't have a house but rather a lab, green house, farm, and workshop that we just happen to also live in.

I am most proud of the chickens who normally don't handle change well. They seem to be okay with the new basement roomies!

Before I inflated the pool. The chickens are in the upper right hand corner. Can't you just hear them thinking, "Ok mom- now what are you doing?"

The finished home with shavings down.