Ready for Spring

Whew, what a busy time of the year! It's been hard to find time to organize my thoughts, let alone post. Here's what we've been up to. Kaia's been helping me clear beds for planting, which we still have more of to do.

We've been trying to give everything inside a good Spring cleaning.

 And we've been planting, planting, planting!

 After planting and labeling all the seeds, Kaia needed a sign of her own, too.

Everything we are starting inside is planted and beginning to sprout. We need to finish clearing the beds outside so that we can get our frost hearty plants going out there, too.

Kaia always helps care for all the plants and sprouts, and loves watering and spraying them.

She was so excited to see that some of the wildflowers she'd planted were starting to sprout. I hadn't even noticed, they are so small! That's her little pointer finger in there.

The kitties have been patrolling the garden beds and leaving lots of moles and other small, squeaky things on the porch. (Or bits of them, at least...)

They've also been at Kaia's corn, which has been a major upset for her. It grew so fast we had to transplant it after only a week. The rest of the corn is definitely being planted directly outside. It's now in a pot quite large enough for a kitty or two to sleep in, which, of course, they've been doing. They've also been eating it, much to Kaia's dismay. The corn is now in protective custody. We lost a few, but I think the rest will pull through.

The chickens are getting so big! They are now screened into the bathtub. There's no doubt at all any more that Mr. Howl is a rooster, but I am really hoping no one else is.

Eskaba has gotten very friendly and runs to your hand when you put it in, everyone else is still pretty hesitant.

The crocuses are coming up and getting ready to bloom, we see more and more sunshine with every passing day, I am ready for that pleasant Spring weather! I hope it warms up soon.

Sand Box and Roosting Sticks

 As the chicks get bigger, they seem to want to play more. They're also getting in a crazy amount more feathers every day, which I understand are supposed to be very itchy. Look at all those new feathers! We decided to give them a sand box to play, bathe, scratch and peck in. We dug up some sand from outside and, as we were recommended to do, boiled it up in a big pot.

When we first put it in, the chicks jumped in and scratched and pecked, but their main interest seemed to be sitting on its sides.

So we went outside and cut some sticks to put in for them, too. They seem to be very happy with their new toys! They hop on and off the sticks, on the sand box, in the sandbox, onto the top of the feeder, and jump from up high back into the sandbox. They squabble and push each other off the edges, or flap their wings and knock everyone off in an explosion of peeps.

They're really fun to watch!

The next day when I checked on them, they were all taking turns rolling around and flapping in the sand, flinging granules everywhere, getting really dusty. It must feel pretty nice on that itchy skin. :)

First Starters and Kitchen Sprouts

Oh, it is nice to think that Spring is near enough to plant seeds! We haven't gotten the bulk of our seeds in yet, but Kaia got started with the seeds for her garden. She planted basil, ornamental corn, and snake gourd. These are the seeds she picked out at the store, so I think she may need to start some pole beans as well and go for the classic corn, bean, and squash trio. Perfect for her little garden bed.

 My Mum gave us these neat peat pots, or "dirt cakes" as they're known around here, for Kaia to use. She had a lot of fun with them. She poured on the water and sat and watched them expand. Then she carefully opened up the tops.

 She pushed the seeds down into the soil and tucked them into their beds. I love watching her little hands work in the dirt. She placed their lids on and we set them up on a shelf.

 We'd used all the peat pots we had and I wasn't ready yet to get the rest of the seeds started. I still needed to make a place to put them all. Kaia wasn't done with planting, though, so I got out the "Kitchen Cropper" we got a little while back and hadn't tried yet. She spread alfalfa seeds on all three of the trays. I wasn't sure we'd be able to eat all the sprouts she was starting before they went bad, but there was no stopping her. ;) I figured they may make a nice treat for the chicks if we had a surplus.

 This was great, actually. Kaia always wants to water the plants every day and has a hard time understanding why she can't, but the sprouting seeds need to be watered twice (!) a day. She love love loved doing so, and watching the water drip down, fill each tray, and drip to the next.

 A handful of days later, the sprouts were ready to eat and you know what? I did not need to worry about a surplus. I barely got any sprouts, and Papa didn't get any at all. Every time I turned around Miss Kaia had the lid off and was cramming sprouts in her mouth. They were gone the next day! I guess we'll be starting some more.

She has patiently checked her seeds every day and finally the basil and corn are sprouting for her, she is so excited! We're still waiting on those snake gourds, though. She's ready to plant more. I've rearranged the living room and have a table in front of the windows just waiting for the seedlings. I better get those flats ready, stat! 

The Chicks Get Their First Treat

The chicks are now about 2 1/2 weeks old. I decided the initial danger hopefully has past, and let Kaia name them. Top left is Hawk, below her is Maru, and to her right is our probable roo, Howell. Directly to "his" right is Chicky-May-May. Above her are Chihiro and then that's Eskaba at the top.

We also decided to give them their first food aside from crumbles. I mixed Earth's Best Organic "spring vegetables and pasta" baby food into crumbles and sprinkles a few more crumbles on top to tempt them. I'd bought a handful of jars of baby food because I wanted some little jars and empties were more expensive. (???) I thought Miss Katalin might like to try them, which she did... and hated them. So, it seemed like a good time to give the chickens a treat! Kaia excitedly presented them with the plate.

...which they inspected...

...and then ran in horror as far away as they could get and started gobbling up their crumbles, in apparent fear that it may all suddenly turn into this strange, green mush!

Well, despite their reaction, we left the plate in overnight to see if they might warm up to it, and the following afternoon it was probably about half gone. I took it out, and we tried again a few days later. They immediately swarmed the plate and devoured it! (Also, look how quickly their feathers are coming in all of a sudden!)

Success!

Allow me to Introduce myself

This is a breakaway blog from the blog I have been keeping (Juise,) to separate my ventures in crafting, which is predominately what that blog has been about, from our efforts to turn our home into a backyard farm. The posts I've made on the subject do seem a bit randomly thrown in amid the rest, so from now on I will be making such entries here.

This is where you'll now find my posts on our gardens,

The food we make, especially from what we grow,

The work we do,

Additions we make,

Our new feathered friends,

And how we connect our children with their Earth.

I'm looking forward to the season to come, the growth of our hearts, our minds, our children, chickens, and plants.

Here are a few of the relevant posts from Juise, starting with the oldest:

Jam!

Herb Harvest

Grass Horse and Diggin' Up Potatoes

Green Tomatoes

Get Ready For Chickens!