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Chick Stuff

Three and a half years ago, my husband, Mark and I bought our first house. It’s a modest ranch style home built in the late 1970s. Our dream home? No, not really. Our dream home would be ten miles from the nearest neighbor, sit on 50 acres+, include a wooded area, a pond or stream–complete with tire swinging on a rope, and lots wide open space to roam, an orchard, several gardens, and lots of farm animals. We might be able to survive off the land, but here in the real world, we need a real job to pay for the land we are surviving off of. Commuting to the city requires time and money. Neither of which we have, in abundance, at the moment.

Slowly, over time, in the past three years, I’ve added a little bit of country to our lot. Our place gives the feeling of seclusion, but in reality we have neighbors on three sides. Our third of an acre sized lot is something I are grateful for. I’m not complaining.

I started with a raised vegetable garden, followed by barrels of herbs, bees balm, a fountain (gives the feel of a pond with waterfall), and some raspberry canes. Yes, the raspberries need help. I didn’t realize the original owners had plastic down under the bark on the entire front area of the drive, which means, my raspberries aren’t producing very well. I’ve decided to build a raised bed for them this year. I will also be building another raised vegetable garden alongside them. Soon, I will cut the front lawn out and create a large L-shaped raised bed. I don’t understand the point in keeping a perfectly manicured lawn, versus creating a yard that gives back to you.

On a limited income, I have no choice but to build slowly. My costs will the wood for the raised beds, seeds, starters, soil, and manure.

Throughout the past three years, one idea has played on my mind–backyard laying chickens. If I can create my own fertilizer and grow my own eggs, I’ll have two expenses taken care of. I may only break even after feeding my chickens, but truth be know, I’m a chicken lady at heart. I raised chickens when I was in late elementary school. We kept some for their eggs and the remaining chickens were for eating. I remember running inside the house when it was time for dad to kill the chickens. One time I watched through the kitchen window as he grabbed two chickens at the same time. Holding them by their heads, with his arms outstretched at either side he gave a quick jerk in a swinging motion and snapped their necks. I was horrified and swore I’d never eat those chickens. We were poor–needless to say, I ate those chickens, and they were damn good.

I won’t be eating my hens. Mine are pets and will give fertilizer and eggs. I chose hens that are great layers. All of their eggs will be brown. I love brown eggs. There is something “earthy” about eating a fresh brown egg.















ABOVE BLOG First Posted at my Wordpress blog Angelnina's Cottage on April 24th, 2008

My spring started with a chicken craze and now I've gone a little garden wild. I'm sure my plan is not perfect, but I'm certainly putting my heart into it.

It's not easy to dig up grass! I worked at staying in the moment while I dug, "Shovel in, shovel out". I repeated over and over to myself. I saw my ego wander and head towards the future and dip back into the past. "This will take me too long!" was followed by, "last year you hurt your back using a shovel like this." In the end, I mostly stayed on track with, "shovel in, shovel out".

I didn't get very far in a few hours time,



but Mark came home and busted it out in about 30 minutes. He's such a showoff!



ABOVE: Front yard raised bed

Anyhoot, Mark built the raised bed, and I read the books and planted the seeds and starts. I wanted to start a few weeks early on the hot plants, so Mark and I made a cloche for the two gardens in front.

I now have two raised beds and one garden directly in the ground with hills for squash, melons, cucumbers, and maybe a few peppers.

I've planted: collard greens, romaine lettuce, red beets, gold beets, kale, carrots, walla walla onions, peas,tomatoes (4 varities), jalapeno peppers, habaneros, anaheim, sweet peppers, canteloupe, watermelon, acorn squash, zucchini squash, patty squash, butternut squash, cucumbers, artichokes, eggplant, spinach, green beans, golden squash, pumpkins, and probably a few other things I've forgotten to mention.

I also started my basil from seed indoors. I'm having a hard time because they seem to want to go leggy on me. I have a few barrels of herbs: oregano, thyme, mint, rosemary, fennel, chives, and parsley.

So far, the gardens are simply a joy.

I still have to finish my path around the raised bed in the front yard. I'm planning on using stone or chipped wood for the paths.

Between trying to care for roses (I have counted 24 rose bushes on my property) organically, I'm in the yard more than the kitchen these days.



ABOVE: Very front area of house has in ground beds for large heat loving veggies and the beginning of my raspberry bed.


ABOVE: In ground garden with hills


My plan for the very front area was to remove some of the plants that were here before I moved in. I removed a gigantic butterfly bush and a few bushes that didn't fit my plan. I also removed the bark and it kind of looks like a pig farm in this photo, but it will slowly become a work of art. I want to use the space for growing vegetables and raspberries. Mark had so much energy he went ahead a built a box for my raspberries, which have kind of gone wild spreading about the mound. Now I have have to train them to some Ts and clothes wire. If anybody has experience with raspberries please advise, as I'm winging it!



Soon there will be a gate leading to these other two beds and some heather or roses will line the base.



ABOVE: Cloche covering the hills on in ground garden.

The photos were taken over a week ago, and today I have lots of seedlings popping out of the ground under this cloche. I'm so excited!

Once we get the paths filled in and some more flowers around the fence, I think this will all look pretty cute. I want a yard that gives back for my work, and I'm tired of pruning and mowing for more pruning and mowing.

I'm going to post my backyard vegetable garden photos as soon as I take photos. It will also be a Square Foot Garden.

I am going to post updated photos later today of all the gardens. We had a few hot days and the gardens took off!